DPP starts bid to quash RM’s ruling in lightbulb case

DIRECTOR of Public Public Prosecutions Paula Llewellyn this morning commenced her bid in the Supreme Court to quash a ruling by Senior Magistrate Judith Pusey during the Cuban lightbulb trial.

Pusey had ruled on April 20 that Llewellyn turn over whatever notes she had taken during an interview with star Crown witness Rodney Chin, when he was an accused in the Cuban lightbulb case.

The ruling arose out of an application from attorneys representing accused Kern Spencer and Coleen Wright after Chin had said during cross-examination that during his meeting, the DPP may have been taking notes.

In response to the application by the lawyers for the accused, Llewellyn denied taking any notes, as she said Chin did not reveal anything to her that he did not tell the police.

This morning, Diahann Harrison, representing the Crown, told the Judicial Review Court that Chin did not reveal anything new during his meeting with the DPP and thus there was no need for her to take notes.

She said the Crown's application was not an attempt at an appeal, a right that the prosecution does not have, while stating that she intends to prove why the Crown has the right to make this application for judicial review.

She said Llewellyn met with Chin in order to test his credibility and demeanour, to exercise her Constitutional Rights as to whether or not to drop the charges against him and accept him as a Crown witness. She is expected to make the case as to why it was not proper for the RM to rule that the DPP make the disclosure.

Spencer and Wright are facing trial for corruption in connection with irregularities in the distribution of four million energy-saving lightbulbs, which were a gift from the Cuban government. Chin had also been charged, but the charges were dropped after he became State witness.