SEAN Elexey who, on September 26, 2008, appealed a conviction and sentence imposed on him by a magistrate for obstructing the police during their duties, had his appeal allowed on Wednesday. On September 25, 2008, after the appellant was freed on a narcotics charge for being in possession of a drug joint, he was convicted on a charge of obstructing Police Woman Cpl. 150185 during the course of her duties, was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment and fined $5,000.
After Attorney Adrian Thompson made submissions for the appellant, the court, constituted by their Lordships Acting Chief Justice Ian Chang, S.C. and Justice William Ramlal, observed that although the notice of appeal was filed since 2008, neither the records of the court nor the Magistrate’s Memorandum of Reasons had reached the Supreme Court to form part of the record there.
The appeal was consequently allowed, and the conviction and sentence were set aside,
The Full Court allowed the appeal because of a comedy of errors on the part of those responsible for prosecuting the appeal.
Chief Justice Chang noted that the court will take drastic action by allowing appeals of persons who are before the courts for several years with no attention being paid to the records by the respondents.