Attorney-at-law,
Arley Gill has called for a bench warrant to be served on Prime
Minister, Dr. Keith Mitchell to get him to attend the criminal
libel proceedings that he brought against editor of the GRENADA
TODAY newspaper, George Worme.
Gill made
the call Monday before Chief Magistrate Patricia Mark who is
conducting the Preliminary Inquiry into the case that was brought
on behalf of the Prime Minister by the Commissioner of Police.
The attorney-at-law
was holding papers in the matter for leading counsel, Anslem
Clouden who could not attend the sitting due to ill-health.
Gill expressed concern with the number of times that the case
against Worme has come up before the court with the "virtual
complainant (Prime Minister Mitchell) not attending the hearing.
He suggested
that the Grenadian leader was showing scant courtesy to the
court by his behaviour. He also claimed that Prime Minister
Mitchell was apparently trying to use the court system in order
"to tie up" Worme in legal matters.
The GRENADA
TODAY has consistently carried reports about wrong-doing by
Mitchell¹s ruling New National Party (NNP) since it came
to power in mid-1995. Gill expressed before the Chief Magistrate
that Prime Minister Mitchell might be bent on keeping the case
ongoing in court in order to try and intimidate the newspaper
and its editor.
He also
suggested that Mitchell might have also lost interest in the
case because of the "tenuous nature" of the matter.
It is the second time that lawyers representing the newspaper
editor have called on the Chief Magistrate to issue a bench
warrant to force Dr. Mitchell to attend the court hearing.
Like last
year when she dismissed a similar request made by Clouden, the
Chief Magistrate also turned down Gill¹s plea for steps
to be taken to force the Prime Minister to come to court.
Mark indicated
that the records of the case would show that the court had not
been summoning the Prime Minister to attend the criminal libel
matter. However, she promised to ensure that a summon was sent
to the Grenadian leader to attend the next hearing set for September
19. Dr. Mitchell has not appeared in court for the matter since
2004.
Gill was
forced to ask the Chief Magistrate whether the Prime Minister
was being given special privilege because in other cases the
court would have issued warrants for persons not attending hearings
or simple throw out the case.
The newspaper
editor recalled that when he had arrived late on a previous
hearing date due to heavy rains the court issued a bench warrant
for his arrest to ensure that he was present on the next scheduled
date. The warrant was only recalled when an official of the
court brought to the attention of the Chief Magistrate that
Worme was present.
The criminal
libel case against Worme arose from a letter written in the
GRENADA TODAY questioning the manner in which Prime Minister
Mitchell won all fifteen seats in the 1999 general elections.
The matter
is being prosecuted by Jamaican Hugh Wildman, the current Legal
Advisor to the Mitchell Cabinet of Ministers.
