The ongoing trial of 33 accused members of the St Catherine-based Klansman gang stalled Monday after it was disclosed that the sole female defendant had been quarantined due to an outbreak of COVID-19 in the facility where she is housed, in addition to several prosecutors being ill.

Upon resumption Monday morning, trial judge chief justice Bryan Sykes was informed that defendant Stephanie Christie was missing from the docks due to the outbreak at the South Camp Road facility where she is being held. The court was told that prison officials were not minded to have Christie mingle with the rest of the population for her own safety.

In the meantime a representative for the Crown indicated that the other members of the prosecution’s team were laid up from the virus. 

Chief Justice Bryan Sykes subsequently adjourned the matter to Monday January 24 in deference to the protocols established by the Ministry of Health.

Jamaica is now firmly in the grips of a fourth wave of the respiratory virus, with the island recording a string of quadruple-digit single-day increases in COVID-19 cases.

-Alicia Dunkley