Chaguanas man challenges three-year delay in DUI case

A Chaguanas man who was held for allegedly driving under the influence has filed a novel lawsuit which seeks to challenge the delay in the magistrates’ court.

Stefan Hearn wants the High Court to give guidance on the application of the criminal procedure rules as it relates to the allotment of resources to cases and repeated adjournments.

Hearn’s trial before Magistrate Rehana Ali has since been stayed pending the High Court’s decision on his judicial review claim.

Presiding over the matter in the High Court is Justice Frank Seepersad.

In his lawsuit, Hearn says the magistrate was wrong to grant the prosecution’s request for an adjournment of his trial on October 6, 2023.

He is asking for several declarations. His lawyers Lee Merry and Kelston Pope have argued that the magistrate acted illegally by adjourning his trial because she failed to take into account that the CPR was designed to bring more discipline to the criminal trial process by effectively managing the pre-trial and trial processes so that the “laissez-faire” approach to criminal litigation of the past is no longer tolerated.

Hearn was charged with the summary offence in July 2020. He said he appeared several times before the magistrate and up until the date for the trial, the prosecution failed to provide disclosures to his attorneys.

The matter was repeatedly adjourned for the police to comply with the court’s orders.

A trial date was set for October 6, but when the matter was called, two of the police witnesses were not in attendance, leading to an adjournment to March 2024.

Hearn argues the magistrate failed to take into account the need for expedition in the prosecution of criminal matters, particularly summary matters, as the delay brings the law into disrepute.

He is asking that the charge against him be dismissed and to be compensated for his attorneys’ fees.

“I am instructed by my attorneys that the magistrates’ court is in crisis in terms of the number of matters that need to be heard and determined in any given court and that the culture of adjournments is largely responsible for this crisis.”