Attorney to wait one month in jail for sentencing

SEVENTY-EIGHT-year-old suspended attorney Wilston Campbell will spend another month in jail until he is sentenced by a High Court judge. Campbell was convicted by a Port of Spain jury of perverting the course of justice by attempting to bribe a police officer to not bring witnesses to court so a case against two students caught cheating in CXC examinations in 1995 could be dismissed.

Campbell, who was also charged in 2017 with allegedly defrauding a client in a land deal, was on trial before Justice Devan Rampersad in the Port of Spain High Court.

He was convicted last week Friday, and was expected to be sentenced on Thursday, however, Rampersad, after a plea of mitigation hearing, asked that a probation report be done for Campbell.

The judge adjourned the sentencing hearing to July 4, and Campbell has been remanded into prison custody until then.

His attorneys Dana Salina and Wayne Sturge asked for a non-custodial sentence to be imposed because of Campbell’s age.

Salina said although he was convicted of a victim-less crime, the suspended attorney is suffering the consequences for his actions as he has been suspended from the roll of attorneys by the Law Association which found him guilty of two infractions and ordered him to repay several sums of money to two former clients as well as pay fines.

Salina also said with his conviction, Campbell will no longer be able to practice law. She said he has had time to reflect on his action.

However, prosecutor Krishna Jaglal pointed that when Campbell bribed the police in 1995, he would have been 54 – a mature man and experienced attorney, who, at the time, had been practicing law for 20 years.

He also pointed out that, at his trial, Campbell made serious allegations against the police officer who charged him, and Jaglal disagreed with a non-custodial sentence being imposed, urging the judge to send a message to the public that such actions will not be tolerated, especially since in recent times there is much skepticism by the police of the legal profession and the criminal justice system.

“The offence is serious. The effect of white collar crime is more detrimental to society and one which sends a dagger to the heart of TT when people attempt to attack, intimidate or break down the system,” the prosecutor told the judge, urging him to not only protect the criminal justice system but also the image of the legal profession.

Rampersad said because such a serious offence will ordinarily attract a jail term, a judge had a discretion in exceptional circumstances and for that reason he was ordering a probation report.

However, he said his doing so was not a promise of a non-custodial sentence.

On July 18, 1995, Campbell gave to PC Simon $1,500 for the police officer’s assistance to not bring witnesses against two students accused of cheating in CXC examinations so that the case will dismissed in the San Fernando Magistrates’ Court.

Campbell claimed it was the police who solicited a bribe from him.