Dec 29, 2009
Irish Attorney Kicked Out Of Court
Fifty year old Roger Prince, an Irish attorney who is holidaying in Jamaica and who rose in court recently to defend Archangelo Brooks (28 year old truck driver of Caymanas Gardens in St. Catherine who was charged with receiving stolen property) without having a Jamaican work permit not a certificate from the Legal Council authorising him to practice in Jamaica, was stoutly rejected by St. Catherine Resident Magistrate Simone Maddix, even after he insisted that he was qualified to practice anywhere in the Commonwealth.
The Resident Magistrate reprimanded the stubborn Irish attorney and literally had him kicked out of the Spanish Town Criminal Court. Forcibly demanding that he be heard by the magistrate, Prince was advised to take his comments to the Appeal Court where he will be heard. Prince reportedly said “as a member of the Commonwealth law bar, I am entitled to be heard anywhere“, but admitted also that he did not have a work permit, and apologised for not introducing himself to the court before speaking. He went as far as to cite a number of Commonwealth cases to support his bid to defend Brooks, but Resident Magistrate Maddiz was having none of it and rebutted the many legal citations, and firmly ruled that he should “argue somewhere else. Not here.”
She said, “you do not have a work permit to practice here, nor do you have a certificate from the Council to practice here, so I cannot here you.”
Brooks was denied bail and is remanded in custody until January 5, when the matter will come up again for mention.