Old Montrose man to stand trial for murder of his father

A young man will face a trial by jury to determine whether he is guilty of murdering his father in 2019.

Clinton Cambridge was arraigned, like many others, at the beginning of the High Court assizes this Tuesday, January 18.

The 24-year-old of Old Montrose appeared before Justice Brian Cottle and entered a not guilty plea to, on July 14, 2019, in Sion Hill, with malice aforethought, ending the life of Clint Boucher, his father.

On this date, Boucher, a 55-year-old contractor of Sion Hill, allegedly succumbed to stab wounds to the left side of his body.

The young man had just been released from prison when he was charged with this offence. He had served out a five-year jail sentence for illegal possession of a 9 mm pistol, and was also sentenced for possession of 36 rounds of live 9 mm ammunition, and 873 g of cannabis.

The High Court has maintained its date to resume after its scheduled break, despite the recent spike in Covid-19 cases. However, all persons going into the courtroom had to don masks, and use a liberal amount of hand sanitizer.

Cottle noted that the situation was not ideal, but that they will try to deal with the criminal matters, “while at the same time, remaining aware of the need to do all we can to keep all of the persons who are involved in a criminal trial, safe.”

In any given trial, there will be the jurors present, the judge, the court staff, counsel, and the accused persons themselves.

The backlog of criminal cases is a known and much spoken on fact. However, the Justice noted, “we wouldn’t want our desire to deal with criminal matters to compromise the health,” of the persons involved.

He specifically mentioned the court officers who provide security, stating “we should not abuse (their) duty by endangering them.”

“We are doing all we can in difficult circumstances, we would all do the best that we can to continue with the business of the court in a safe a manner as possible,” he told those present.

It is a learning process, and “we’re all learning as we go along,” as it not something that they have had to deal with before, he concluded.

The magistrate courts, which are usually limited to one room that may be quite small in size and not conducive to physical distancing, seem to be restricting themselves to new arrests at the moment.