Today, December 10, is trial day for a 49-year-old diabetic Trinidadian who is facing four Immigration charges.

His lawyer had argued for his client’s matters to be treated with urgency as he is fearful that he may lose his limb or life as a result of an apparently continuously oozing injury and paralysis of the hand. 

Lawyer, Grant Connell indicated on Wednesday at the Kingstown Magistrate’s Court (KMC), that there was need for Desmond Pavy to return to Trinidad to address his medical issues.

Connell wanted the court to hear the matters on that day, and said that since his client had been in hospital since the date the charges were laid, November 30, the prosecution should be ready to proceed. 

“He is in excruciating pain. His sugar levels are extremely high. He’s a diabetic. He presently has no movement in his left hand, and according to my instructions, significant damage to his elbow,” the lawyer informed the court. 

“The institution where he [is] presently has in the past shown its capabilities to deal with diabetics and injuries to their limbs,” Connell said, seemingly referring to the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital(MCMH). 

Connell said that his client is “humbly” asking the court to address the matter with grave urgency, “so that he can save his limb and, may I humbly submit, possibly his life.”

Prosecutor, Corporal Corlene Samuel replied that just as the defence needs to be briefed before coming to court, so does the prosecution. She said that when a matter comes before the court it comes from the police and she is yet to see the file. 

“I do not know the circumstances of the matter, I do not know the circumstances of this injury, but I do know your honour. He came from the hospital this morning, and he has to return to the hospital because his treatment was not completed yet,” Samuel stated. 

As Pavy is a non-national the prosecutor said that she was objecting to his bail, and making an application for an adjournment. 

Samuel said that when he was released they would be ready to proceed. 

Connell said that this application of the prosecution is unconscionable and borders on being inhumane. 

He noted that the prosecutor had been in possession of the document for 15/20 minutes. He submitted that the document was three pages long, and that she could read them and make a phone call to her seniors. He believed the four charges cannot stand, and therefore if she made this phone call, “they would have taken a certain course as others have in other courts.” 

Senior Magistrate Rickie Burnett asked when the defendant would be released from the hospital. 

Connell said that the release date is “X”. 

He also submitted “…I am well in tune with the reality in St Vincent and the Grenadines. If this man remains there he will either lose his limb or his life. He needs to get back to Trinidad, have that addressed. He had surgery and none of his fingers can move. He needs to be addressed.”
Connell asked for the court to extend a level of “humanity” to his client. 

The counsel reiterated that he was asking for the matter to be heard, or the court to be stood down for a period of time for the prosecutor to make calls, as he was certain amendments would be made to the charges. 

The prosecutor said that according to a report from the doctor, permission had given for the defendant to go to court that day but then return to the hospital. 

Connell argued that his client had told him that they are having to change his cast, “His cut – they cannot stop the oozing.”

The magistrate told the lawyer that based on what he has been told, the defendant is still a patient at the hospital and has not been released. 

The defence counsel then asked whether the court could explore the possibility of him returning to Trinidad. He asked for bail to be allowed.

The prosecutor objected given that Pavy is a non-national. 

The magistrate informed them that he would make Friday, December 10, available to the parties. 
Connell still wanted the prosecutor to call her seniors, but the senior magistrate advised that he cannot order the prosecutor to do so. 

The magistrate said that he was fixing the matters for December 10 for trial. 

Pavy will be tried that he on November 30, in Chateaubelair, being a prohibited immigrant:
allegedly entered the state by boat without a passport, entered the state other than a port of entry, being the master of the vessel knowingly allowed a prohibited immigrant to be landed, and that he knowingly or wilfully allowed himself to be landed as a prohibited immigrant.