A DISASTER was averted at the Berbice High Court yesterday after smoke was seen emanating from one of the lighted electric lamps.

The smell of burning materials filled the courtroom during a murder trial that was in progress and crackling sounds alerted persons at the media table to the source of the fire in a lamp above their heads.

Justice Winston Patterson, presiding, stopped taking evidence from Police Detective Sergeant Charles Henry, who was on the witness stand and Court Marshal Keon King switched off the power supply.

No damage was done but, had the incident occurred after working hours, it may have been catastrophic.

In the dock, at the time, was Michel Skeete, indicted for the unlawful killing of her reputed husband, Prison Officer Lincoln Gilead.
The trial continued on the resumption in the afternoon