Defence attorney, Bernard De Santos SC, representing Magistrate Gordon Gilhuys, who is before the court on six traffic charges, yesterday said
he had in his possession all the valid documents to indicate that the magistrate had not committed the alleged offences.
“The prolongation of this matter will have consequences,”
De Santos warned when the prosecution requested that the documents he had presented for his client be forwarded to the Chambers of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for advice.
Magistrate Gilhuys was slapped with the charges earlier this month after being involved in an accident and the police charged him with being a careless driver, being an unlicensed driver, failing to produce a driver’s licence, having an uninsured motor vehicle, having an uncertified motor vehicle and having an unlicensed motor vehicle.
In the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court yesterday, De Santos said that the vehicle mentioned in the charge was initially registered as PLL4282 but it was changed to PL4582 and all the consequential changes that were required for that alteration in the circumstance were properly done. De Santos, as it related to the charge of Magistrate Gilhuys being an unlicensed driver, presented a document that he said was a copy of Magistrate Gilhuys’ driver’s licence and noted that the document had shown that the licence was in force in June 2007 and will expire on the corresponding date in 2010. “If proper checks were made then it would have been discovered that the documents were all in force.”
The lawyer then asked if the prosecution was going to continue with the charge of “being an unlicensed driver” or dispose of the case and Prosecutor Denise Griffith stated that after all the charges were contested by the defence then she would give her responses.
De Santos then stated that regarding the charge of Magistrate Gilhuys operating an uninsured vehicle he had a document, which he presented to the prosecution, that was the insurance policy for the vehicle PLL4282 which had been cancelled when the registration number had changed to PLL4585 and a new policy was in force for the new registration number. He said that the documents presented showed the cancellation of the insurance policy from the old registration number and the current policy with the new number.
As it related to the revenue licence, De Santos stated that he had the licence receipt and the adjustments were made for the change of the licence number at that time.
He noted that the only outstanding cases to be dealt with were the careless driving and the failure to produce a licence on request.
However Prosecutor Griffith in her response stated that she would appreciate if the copies of the documents that the defence had shown to the court be forwarded to the Chambers of the DPP for advice and consultation in the case.
She said that on Magistrate Gilhuys’ previous appearance in the court the documents presented were said to be related to the vehicle with license plate number PLL4582 and not PLL4282.
“I have been around the courts for a long time……I have never heard that the prosecution sends files to the DPP for consultation when these documents emanated from the government of Barbados and in some case even the police,” responded De Santos.
De Santos further said “my client has shown valid documents to exonerate himself of the charges.”
The magistrate then ordered that the documents the defence had presented to the court be given to the prosecution to be forwarded to the DPP’s chambers. Magistrate Gilhuys was then ordered to return to court on November 7 for report.
Last Monday when Magistrate Gilhuys appeared in court he had pleaded not guilty to the six traffic offences and was later placed on self- bail and ordered to return to court yesterday since he had failed to produce the valid documents relating to motorcar PLL 4282. Those documents that were shown to the court then were said to be documents for a vehicle with the licence plate number PLL4582.
