Enough of the absences

Clearly frustrated by disruptions caused by the repeated absence of a defence attorney, Justice Sanchia Burrell on Wednesday told co-accused Fritz Pinnock that he may have to cross-examine a witness himself if no legal representation is present for him when the delay-plagued Ruel Reid fraud trial resumes next Monday.

“I’m expecting that counsel will be here and that you will be assisted or represented in so far as proceedings are concerned. It may, however, be that you will have to apply those doctoral muscles and ask questions in cross-examination,” Burrell told Pinnock, former head of Caribbean Maritime University (CMU).

Pinnock was in the dock alongside his co-accused — Reid, the former education minister; his wife Sharen Reid and daughter Sharelle Reid; as well as Councillor Kim Brown Lawrence (Jamaica Labour Party, Brown’s Town Division).