An attorney yesterday questioned whether skin colour and “financial wherewithal” were the grounding factors in the island’s judicial system, where a white man charged with ammunition “did not even spend an hour on remand” while a black one sat on remand for almost a year awaiting the start of his preliminary enquiry.
Arthur Holder made the charge yesterday after learning that almost a year after his client, Kerron Pond, had been charged and remanded to HMP Dodds, the prosecution still had no file.
However, a senior lawman promised to bring the matter to the attention of an even more senior lawman in an attempt to get the file to court.
Pond, of Green Hill Close, Silver Hill, Christ Church, is accused of murdering Neil Simmons last May 6.
Yesterday, when the murder accused reappeared in the District “A” Magistrates’ Court, Magistrate Graveney Bannister asked the prosecution if it was ready to hand over copies of statements to the defence.
Read the full story in today’s DAILY NATION.