HAMILTON, BERMUDA:
THE COURT of Appeal says a Jamaican man whom the State wants extradited to face drugs charges, had not been denied his constitutional rights after being held in prison for three years awaiting trial.
In January, Andrew Hall was freed of charges of importing US$1.8 million worth of heroin into Bermuda, after Justice Archibald Warner ruled his constitutional rights had been breached because he had been held without trial for so long.
CHARGES REINSTATED
Hall, 39, who would have faced between 14 and 18 years in jail if found guilty, left Bermuda in a private jet on a temporary passport within hours of being released. Last week, the State won a decision in the Court of Appeal that Hall's constitutional rights had not been violated, which meant the charges against
him has been reinstated.
In a written judgement, the Court of Appeal said that it found it difficult to identify any period of significant delay, which can be said to be both unreasonable, and the responsibility of the Crown. Neither was it, in their view, possible to attribute any unreasonable delay to the court or to any of the administrative agencies of Bermuda. "It was not unreasonable, in our view, for the October 2002 hearing to be adjourned until May 2003, nor for that hearing to be adjourned until January 2004 in the circumstances of this case.
"It does not follow that delays, even substantial delays, can always be avoided. In practice, realism intrudes on what the legal system ideally should achieve. Each adjournment was ordered by a judge, and it seems to us that there are no grounds for holding that either the Crown or the courts' administration was at fault or responsible for any unreasonable delay."
The Court of Appeal said that it was also difficult to say there had been any breach of the Constitution for which the Crown might be held liable. "Although the applicant (Hall) personally was not at fault, or responsible for any significant delay, the fact is counsel representing him did not object to the co-accused's application for an adjournment in October 2002. Indeed, he expressly assented to it," the court ruled.
EXTRADITION ATTEMPTS
Acting Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Kulandra Ratneser has said the State is attempting to have Hall extradited to stand trial.
Hall was charged alongside Jamaicans Barris Dawkins, also known as Rudolph Everton Pusey, and Teartia Smith, with importing the drug in March 2001. Dawkins was jailed for 18 years and Smith for 14 years after pleading guilty to the charges. But the case against Hall dragged on for almost three years due to a number of adjournments.
