Murder accused lunges at magistrate
By Melissa Charles
Chaos erupted in Principal Magistrate Melissa Robertson-Ogle’s court yesterday when a murder accused jumped out of the dock and lunged at the magistrate who rushed off the bench before he could grab her.
Sherwin Anthony Hayles grasped the lamp on the magistrate’s desk instead just before he was grabbed by the court orderly, police officers and men who were in the courtroom. Magistrate Robertson-Ogle was by this time safely behind doors in her chambers.
The prosecution table and bench crashed to the ground and with files flying all over the men fought for more than five minutes to control Hayles. He was handcuffed and tied after being subdued. Meanwhile, persons in the courtroom fled, a few of then screaming.
Hayles, charged with the murder of Joel Savory, behaved strangely from the time he entered the court around 11.15 yesterday morning.
When the magistrate asked Hayles where he lived, he replied “in the low coastal plain.” When pressed, he said, “right now I have no fixed place of abode”. Asked how old he was, he said he thought his age was 31, but he was not sure.
When the indictable charge was read to Hayles, he hollered, “Excuse me! Pardon me! But why you put me pun murder and not manslaughter?”
When his next court date was set, the orderly asked him to step out of the dock. At this time, Hayles addressed the magistrate saying, “But I ain’t even know your name.”
The magistrate told him that was not necessary and without anyone realising his intention, Hayles leapt out the dock and over the bar table.
Attorney-at law James Bond, the only lawyer at the bar table at the time, attempted to grab the man but missed. However, he helped subdue the man.
