In another bizarre twist to an already sensational case, the flambouyant philanthropist Marcus Bisram has moved to withdraw a case he filed in the High Court to have the charge against him dismissed.
Justice Gino Persaud was evidently livid that the move to withdraw the case came on the very day he was scheduled to rule in the matter – Monday, October 30, 2017.
Bisram’s lead attorney, Sanjeev Datadin was not in court for this afternoon’s session and that further irked Justice Persaud, who noted that he left behind 100 cases dating back to 2008 to deal with this matter expeditiously.
The Judge said he believed it was an abuse of process for the Bisram’s team to file a notice of withdrawal after he, the Judge, had spent considerable time studying over thick files to determine his ruling.
The Judge demanded the presence of Datadin and asked that he be in court on Tuesday at 13:30hrs.
“Let him [Datadin] put on his gloves, his pads and his helmet and come here,” Justice Persaud declared. Datadin serves as President of the lawyers’ cricket club.
Datadin had gone to see the judge on Friday last, indicating his intention to withdraw, citing the Civil Procedures Rules (CPR) which would allow him to do so.
The Judge asked Datadin to send his arguments of the CPR to him over the weekend, but nothing was sent, further angering the Judge, since the notice of withdrawal was lodged soon after.
“It says that Mr Datadin had no intention of sending me anything over the weekend…”, the Judge argued.
The respondents in the case are the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), the Commissioner of Police and the Chief Magistrate.
Attorney Kim Kyte was in court representing all of the respondents. She said that she had only seen the withdrawal notice to the DPP and not to Commissioner of Police or the Chief Magistrate.
She urged the Judge to award substantial costs to the respondents if the withdrawal goes ahead. Kyte said that the State had invested substantial resources and time on the case.
The Judge said he was “troubled” about the move to withdraw.
He asked: “Isn’t that very convenient- on the day of ruling?”
The Judge added: “I am not going to allow the process of this court to be abused!”
