PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC:
A BOMB scare forced an evacuation of the building temporarily housing the newly inaugurated Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) forcing a brief suspension of its historic sitting yesterday.
The CCJ, which replaced the London-based Privy Council as the region's final court of appeal for some Caribbean countries, is hearing its first case involving a libel suit stemming from allegations that a poultry farmer in Barbados had been supplying questionable chickens to restaurants on the island.
CALYPSO GETTING ON BAD
The controversy sparked a number of calypso songs critical of the enterprise owned by Ram and Asha Mirchandani, who in 1999 won a libel and defamation suit against Barbados Redifussion, that owns one of the radio stations that played the tunes.
The bomb scare forced the evacuation of the unit trust building in the heart of the capital, Port-of-Spain, and the suspension of the sitting, which was being presided over by CC head, Michael De La Bastide, and four other judges. The incident resulted in a 45-minute delay in the proceedings.
CONSTRUCTION IMCOMPLETE
The permanent building to house the CCJ, which was inaugurated earlier this year, has not yet been completed and CCJ officials placed newspaper advertisements indicating that the makeshift courtroom could only provide for temporary accommodation, limiting public seating.
They also placed a restriction on the number of journalists who could attend the historic sitting.
When the sitting began yesterday, De La Bastide said the libel case brought by the chicken processor MacDonald Farms against the media company was historic.
