Election petitions trial postponed, new lead counsel for the Respondents to be appointed

A new date has been set for the commencement of the 2015 general elections petitions trial and the Respondents ordered to get a new lead counsel.
Today, at the High Court in Kingstown, Justice Esco Henry ordered that the trial dates December 3 to 7, 2018 be vacated, after the Respondents filed a Notice of Motion for the dates to be vacated given that lead counsel Grahame Bollers, is ill.
The judge said that considering the medical certificates submitted, there was no prognosis as to when Bollers would be well enough to appear in court. It was ordered that a new lead counsel be appointed, and in order to give that person enough time to become familiar with the case, the date for the commencement of the trial was set for February 11, 2019.
The application to have the dates vacated had been made by attorney Carlos James, who acts in conjunction with Bollers as attorneys for respondents, elected representatives for the North Windward and Central Leeward constituencies, Montgomery Daniel, and Sir Louis Straker respectively, of the Unity Labour Party(ULP).
Kay Bacchus-Baptiste, one of the attorneys for petitioners Lauron Baptiste and Benjamin Exeter, candidates of the New Democratic Party (NDP), said on radio this week that attorneys for the Petitioners would object to the request for postponement.
“We would be objecting, as a matter of fact, to their application to vacate the trial. It is not meritorious, not on the ground alone that Mr Bollers is ill. There are six other competent lawyers acting for the respondents, and so in our mind Mr Bollers’ illness is not sufficient to vacate the trial,” Bacchus-Baptiste expounded.