Magistrate Ann Mc Lennan did not pass an order to bar media operatives from entering the Wales Magistrate’s Court last Friday, a legal source reported yesterday.
Last Friday police had asked a Stabroek News reporter, and later, other media operatives to leave the court/Wales Police Station compound saying that Magistrate Mc Lennan had ordered that media representatives not enter her courtroom.
Efforts made to contact Mc Lennan for a comment were futile, but the source, who did not want to be named, informed Stabroek News that the magistrate had stated that she had never said the media should be denied entry to the courtroom.
Meanwhile, another senior legal source explained to this newspaper that neither the magistrate nor the police have the right to bar the media from entering the courtroom when a murder charge is being read. The Laws of Guyana, the source stressed, makes certain provisions about in-camera matters like carnal knowledge cases not being heard by the media and puts limits to what information from a preliminary inquiry can be published (Section 63, Chapter 10:01 of the Criminal Procedure Act). However, there is no provision which says that the media must be prevented from entering the courtroom during a case which is deemed as being of public interest.
Addressing the fact that the Stabroek News reporter and later other media representatives were forced to stand in the constant drizzle of rain for several hours, the senior legal source said that it was unethical and “doesn’t say much for the code of ethics followed by the Guyana Police Force”.
Pamela De Santos, who represented the murder accused Deonarine Rafick in association with Senior Counsel Bernard De Santos, had expressed surprise on Friday evening when informed that the media were denied entry.
The defence lawyer had contended it was an attempt by police to hide the brutal treatment meted out to her client. Rafick, De Santos reported, was beaten across the back, rear end and other parts of his body. He was reportedly burnt on the tongue by one of three policemen, named by the lawyer, accused of torturing him.
Several lawyers also voiced their concerns yesterday about what they described as the “growing controlling manner” of the police force. A Senior Counsel, who declined to be named, stressed that the media were not the only ones being “denied access” by police. Many lawyers, the Senior Counsel said, have been denied access to their clients and are not provided with “proper” reasons by police.
“I have been in this profession since the days when police cooperated with lawyers, respected them and allowed their clients the rights afforded to them by the constitution… I can tell you today that this is no longer the case. Now police are no longer willing to work with lawyers in the best interest of our justice system,” the Senior Counsel said.
The attorneys further said the action of police at the Wales Police Station last Friday was clearly not in accordance of the law since media representatives were conducting themselves in a professional manner and did nothing to disturb the peace or show contempt to the police or court.
“I am forced to agree with Pamela De Santos,” the Senior Counsel continued, “because I can see no other reason, than a need to hide their black deeds, that police would have to deny the media access to the court.”
