THE Special Investigation and Prosecution Trial (SIPT) has been pushed back even further as Justice Paul Harrison has reported sick.
On Monday, February 27, when the trial was set to resume after a three week break, the court was informed that the judge would not be attending, as he had fallen ill.
Harrison’s absence will continue until March 20, when the trial will hopefully resume.
The 78-year-old Harrison has been the subject of much controversy due to his advanced age, when his appointment to the trial was first made in 2012, and as recent as 2015, when Misick filed an application with the court to have him removed. That application was unsuccessful.
However, while the judge’s medical condition does raise questions yet again about is age and agility to preside over such a tedious and long running trial, his absence does stand one person in very good stead.
That person is Michael Misick, chief defendant.
The delay gives Misick additional time to bring his new lawyer – Reginald Armour – up to speed with the progress of the hearing over these last fifteen months.
As previously reported, Misick’s senior counsel, Ralph Thorne, a Barbadian, abruptly resigned from the case on January 30, causing a sudden halt to the proceedings.
The former premier was granted the three-week recess, after Thorne’s emailed resignation from the case, after he had failed to show up when the trial resumed on January 16, 2017.
