Murder trials postponed

(CNS): The trial of the man accused of murdering Jeremiah Barnes, which was due to start next month, has been delayed until August. As a result of a change in legal representation, Devon Anglin’s (26) trial over the fatal shooting of the 4-year-old boy at a West Bay gas station last year has been delayed by another five months, despite recent pleas to the court by the child’s mother for the case to be expedited. Anglin’s new attorney, Lucy Organ, who only took up his case last week, has been given time to find leading counsel and prepare his defence after Clyde Allen, who had been representing Anglin, came off record last month. With the court docket full, the first available date for the three week Grand Court trial was August, the court heard Friday.

Raziel Jeffers (27) has also had his Grand Court trial for the fatal shooting of Marcus Ebanks postponed, though a new date has not yet been set. Despite facing several serious charges, Jeffers has no legal counsel after rejecting two different lawyers since he was first arrested last year for the shooting, which took place in Bonaventure Road. Jeffers currently faces three murder charges. In addition to Ebanks, he is charged with murdering Damion Ming, who was shot and killed in his yard in the Birch Tree Hill area of West Bay in March last year, and Marcos Gauman, who was gunned down in Maliwinas Way, also in West Bay, in the same month.

Jeffers said that he was trying to find representation but his previous lawyers were not “doing what they were supposed to", he told the court on Friday, adding that in all the time he had been on remand he had only seen legal counsel for 35 minutes and it was the lawyers that had got him in the situation of being unrepresented. The defendant also claimed there were issues regarding disclosure of important phone records in his case, a point which crown counsel denied and stated that all relevant material had been served on Jeffers’ previous attorneys.

Justice Marva McDonald-Bishop, who was presiding over Friday’s proceedings, instructed Jeffers to find counsel before he returned to court next week for a further mention but agreed to vacate the current March trial date in order to give him time to find a new lawyer. "The court cannot wait forever for you to secure counsel,” she warned, adding that he had already been given a reasonable opportunity.