The court martial against Ordinary Seaman Raheem Reeves will now begin on Monday after his attorney-at-law, Queen’s Counsel Michael Lashley sought an adjournment.
The hearing against Reeves, who is charged with two counts of neglect to the Prejudice of Good Order and Military Discipline, was scheduled to begin at the Barbados Defence Force’s St Ann’s Fort headquarters this morning.
However, Lashley, who is representing Reeves in association with Simon Clarke and Sade Harris, submitted to the panel that he needed more time to prepare for the matter.
He informed Judge Advocate Senior Crown Counsel Krystal Delaney and the panel comprising President Major Alfred Taylor, Captain Michael Jules and Captain Patrice Cummins, that he had only been retained by his client yesterday and therefore needed the additional time to adequately prepare.
Additionally, Lashley told the panel he had only received certain documents pertaining to the matter yesterday and did not have the opportunity to properly peruse them.
He told the court martial he also had three other cases before the High Court.
“In the interest of fairness and justice I would ask the panel to grant me the shortest adjournment and we would be ready come Monday. The delay is not my fault and I need time to go through each and every single statement,” Lashley said.
Prosecutor Captain Neville Corbin objected to the adjournment, saying he had presented the accused with all of the evidence with the exception of one statement.
He said by law those documents had to be served at least 24 hours in advance and that had been done.
Captain Corbin argued that the accused should have shared those documents with his attorney-at-law in a timely manner as he had received them since Tuesday. He contended it would not be prejudiced to the accused to begin the court martial today.
After listening to the submissions of both sides the Judge Advocate sided with Lashley.
“Having heard both parties I will advise the President to allow the adjournment until Monday to give defense counsel a little bit more time to prepare,” Delaney said.
She however, denied Lashley’s request for the court martial to begin at 11 a.m. stating that it would commence at its 9 a.m. scheduled starting time.
Reeves is charged with neglecting to carry out his duty as a Shore Police at HMBS Pelican on August 25, 2020, when he failed to inform his superiors that Ordinary Seaman Collymore asked him to contact his parents.
He is also facing the charge that while at HMBS Pelican on August 24, 2020, he neglected to carry out his duty as Shore Police when Ordinary Seaman Collymore admitted to him that he was involved in a serious incident. (randybennett@barbadostoday.bb)
