(Trinidad Guardian) The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) has refused to dismiss a murder charge against Frank Errol Gibson and has instead ordered the registrar of the High Court of Barbados to fix the trial date in November. Gibson, a Barbadian national, was charged with the murder of Francine Bolden in January 2002. The CCJ’s decision was delivered on September 27.
With the exception of a ten-month period while he was on bail, Gibson remains incarcerated at Her Majesty’s Prison in Barbados. In June 2010, the CCJ stayed the matter and ordered that there could not be a fair trial if Gibson was deprived of the services of a forensic odontologist. An odontologist is a person who studies teeth and their surrounding tissues, along with the prevention and cure of their diseases.
The CCJ considered then, that the proper course was to allow the parties to hold discussions in relation to funding of an odontologist and that negotiations should culminate in the State paying for assistance of an expert. Gibson was granted bail in the amount of $10,000 with a surety, and the court had ordered Gibson’s attorneys and the solicitor general to reach an agreement to secure the services of an odontologist by July 15, 2010.
On August 17, 2012, Gibson filed an application that the murder charge against him be dismissed on the grounds that the State had failed to provide or make any reasonable offer to provide funding to secure an odontologist. Gibson’s application was heard by the CCJ on September 27, who ruled that there was no proper basis for Gibson’s claim.
The CCJ again ordered Gibson’s attorneys and the solicitor general to make a concerted effort to agree on reasonable expenses to be covered by the State to secure a forensic odontologist to assist in Gibson’s defence at the trial.
