KINGSTON, Jamaica — Tempers flared this morning in the Supreme Court as Justice Lennox Campbell and Queens Counsel KD Knight clashed during the Trafigura hearing.

Attorney Knight, one of the lead counsels representing former Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller and her three former Cabinet ministers took issue with a decision by the judge to meet in chamber. He later refused an order by the judge to set a date for the hearing of the appeal in the Appeals Court.

The judge who had met with Knight’s junior lawyers told the court that he just wanted to iron out some “housekeeping” matters and to set a date for the hearing.

He then tried to have the lawyers agree to a date but Knight told him repeatedly that he would not.

“I am not doing it because you have no jurisdiction to tell me to set a date,” Knight insisted while noting that the Court of Appeal had instructed the lawyers to meet with the registrar and the lawyers to set the date.

The matter has been adjourned indefinitely pending the hearing of the appeal.

Tanesha Mundle