DUNCANS, Trelawny – Chief Justice Bryan Sykes on Tuesday disclosed that more than 30 lottery scamming cases had to be disposed since the start of the Trelawny Circuit Court last month due to long wait times for reports on electronic devices from the constabulary’s Communication Forensic and Cyber Crime Division (CFCD).

Justice Sykes made the eyebrow-raising revelation as he chided the police after hearing from Khadine Coleman, the attorney representing murder accused Javan Garwood, that it was only on Monday this week that the Crown handed her information regarding two phones with relevant evidence in the case stemming from the callous murder of Garwood’s stepmother two years ago.

“What is happening since I have been here is that the persons who are responsible for this examination of electronic equipment don’t seem to be able to get any report done in time. So far, with the possession of identity information, I am certain that at least 32 cases that the Crown had were discontinued because of the failure to complete even one examination,” the chief justice said.

Further checks by the Jamaica Observer after the court adjourned on Tuesday revealed that at least 50 individuals who had been charged with lottery scamming have walked free since the session of the Trelawny Circuit Court commenced on June 5 this year because of outstanding CFCD reports, some going as far back as six years.

On Tuesday, the matter involving Garwood was adjourned until next Monday when it was called up before the Trelawny Circuit Court after his lawyer asked for time to assess material provided by the Crown.

“I have certainly not yet had the opportunity to review the contents of those CDs and certainly not to take instructions from my client as it relates to the content. I must say, My Lord, that in fact, there were quite a few things that were coming in up to late Friday evening as it relates to the matter, and I did make an effort, on seeing my client from Sunday, as it relates to those. But certainty what I got yesterday (Monday), My Lord, I would have no instructions,” Coleman told Justice Sykes.

Stunned by the explanation, Sykes asked the prosecutor, “How come this is happening?”

The representative of the Crown responded: “This is happening, My Lord, because we did not get the material as it relates to the CFCD report until yesterday (Monday). We did not get material until yesterday while we were in court,” she said.

But the chief justice retorted that the murder occurred on January 31, 2021 and the relevant information from the CFCD should have been available.

“This is a situation in which the incident occurred two years ago and the information suggests that the persons were apprehended [shortly after]. It means that you had two years plus to have this done, and the trial date is not something that happened on Sunday night,” Sykes said.

The prosecutor responded, “The explanation I was given, My Lord, from CFCD is the volume of work they have there versus the shortage of personnel.”

But Sykes was not impressed by the explanation.

“I don’t care about the volume of work. The court has a time standard; two years of point of entry to disposition. I don’t tell police how to do their work, and police can’t tell me how to do mine. So I don’t care about their volume of work. Their job is to get the work done within the time frame established by the courts,” he said.

Initially he had granted Coleman’s request to start the trial on Thursday, but changed the date to next Monday after one of the jurors explained that she planned to attend her child’s graduation on Thursday.

Fifty-one-year-old Andrea Lowe Garwood was shot four times in January 2021 as she and other churchgoers worshipped inside Agape Christian Fellowship Church in Falmouth, Trelawny.

On Monday the triggerman, Dwight Bingham, pleaded guilty and will be sentenced on July 25.

In March 2021, 23-year-old Leon Hines, who drove the getaway car, was sentenced to six years in prison for his involvement in the crime. This after he turned Crown witness and agreed to provide evidence against both his co-accused.