By Barbara Gayle, Staff ReporterFORMER RESIDENT Magistrate Norma Von Cork who is appealing against her conviction for conspiracy to pervert the course of public justice, will know her fate on April 29.
The Court of Appeal after hearing submissions over a four-week period reserved judgement on Monday. Von Cork was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment at hard labour but she is not appealing against sentence.
She was convicted on April 28, 2000 along with Constable Morris Thompson, Christopher Moore, a 27-year-old Kingston businessman, Radcliffe Orr, labourer, of Trench Town, Kingston 12 and Clive Ellis, labourer, of Thompson Pen, St. Catherine. Ellis who was on bail did not attend court for his trial and was tried and convicted in his absence. He is still at large. The main witness for the prosecution was Ron McLean, who was Mrs. Von Cork's orderly at the time the offence was committed.
The prosecution led evidence that they hatched a plot to have Orr plead guilty to the offences of possession of ganja to which Christopher Moore and Brian Bernal, an architecture student were convicted of in Kingston in 1995.
Orr pleaded guilty in the Mandeville Resident Magistrate's Court in October 1997 to the ganja charges and Von Cork sentenced him to nine months imprisonment.
Resident Magistrate Almarie Haynes found that Orr and her co-convicts hatched the plot so as to cast doubt on the validity of the convictions of Moore and Bernal.
R.N.A. Henriques, Q.C. has asked the court to find that the offence for which they were convicted was not known in law. He has also argued that the Resident Magistrate erred in her ruling because the main witness for the Crown was not a witness of truth.
Bryan Sykes, Acting Senior Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions asked the court to find that McLean's evidence was corroborated. Mr Sykes said that there was no discrepancy in the evidence which McLean gave under oath. Mr. Sykes in reviewing the evidence that when Orr's lawyer had objected to the case being disposed of in October, 1997, Von Cork had said the lawyer could go on talking all he wanted, the sentence was nine months imprisonment. Von Cork and Orr are on bail awaiting the outcome of their appeal. Thompson and Moore have already served their sentences but are also appealing against their convictions.
Ian Forte, president of the Court of Appeal, Mr. Justice Ransford Langrin and Mr. Justice Seymour Panton heard the appeal.
