The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

AFTER spending six years in prison without a trial, a Haitian man is still being detained by the state – four months after a judge ordered his release and payment of $6,500.

Jasmyr Etienne was accused in 2007 of having sex with a six-year-old girl. He was brought before the courts after writing several letters to Justice Jon Isaacs about how long he had been in custody awaiting trial.

The Supreme Court eventually issued a writ of summons, and Etienne was taken to court, where the case against him was thrown out because it had not been heard within a reasonable time.

But today, he is still not a free man, as he is being held at the Carmichael Road Immigration Detention Centre.

“I was arrested and charged back in January 2007 for molesting a young lady sexually,” he wrote in a letter in 2010, adding: “The case was sent to the Supreme Court back in September 2007, from then to now September 2010, this case has not been brought up for trial as yet in the Supreme Court; yet I still hope to be called before the court for a trial date. I cannot hear from the court if I am still here in prison until January 2011; that would be four years on waiting trial, this is unfair.

“Sir, can you please assist me with this matter. For I am financially embarrassed and cannot hire myself a lawyer to assist me, so am at the mercy of the court.”

Mr Etienne’s first bail hearing since he was committed to the Supreme Court in September 2007 took place on January 29, 2013.

Justice Isaacs’ rulings on the case were among the Supreme Court documents seen by The Tribune.

The judge writes: “At the bail hearing it became apparent that although he had been committed to the Supreme Court to stand his trial there, there had been no movement in his case since 2007, almost six years. This is a significant period of time... It was also apparent that the Crown had no inkling that Mr Jasmyr was languishing in jail because they expressed surprise on being advised that he had been on remand since 2007.”

Counsel for the Crown did not object to Mr Etienne’s application for bail, Justice Isaacs noted, adding that the fact that Mr Etienne was not a Bahamian citizen was the only issue raised.

At the time, Justice Isaccs ordered that Mr Etienne be detained at the Detention Centre. He then adjourned court proceedings to give the crown a Chance to indicate how they wanted to proceed with the case.

However, Crown attorneys withdrew their case against Mr Etienne on February 20, 2013 for unspecified reasons.

In a subsequent hearing, Justice Isaacs said Mr Etienne’s constitutional rights may have been breached.

Despite counter-arguments by the Crown, Justice Isaacs ruled that monetary compensation was due Mr Etienne because his right to a trial within a reasonable time had been violated.

He said: “The allegation made against Mr Jasmyr does not involve a vast conspiracy nor is it a complicated fraud case. It is – if I may be permitted to characterise it as such – a run of the mill offence. It ought not to take four years to reach the stage of arraignment and it has not even reached that stage. In the premises I find the period inordinate and presumptively prejudicial.”

The justice added: “Should the sum of $5,000 not be paid by June 3, 2013 it is to attract interest of 10 per cent each month the sum remains unpaid.”

Mr Etienne’s attorney, Dorsey McPhee, told The Tribune that Etienne has neither been released from the Detention Centre, nor has he been paid any money since the justice made his ruling.