Briefs

Manchester MC fraud convicts get new court date for forfeiture order

Mandeville, Manchester:

The court hearing for a forfeiture order the Financial Investigations Division is seeking to use to cease the assets of the convicts in the Manchester Municipal Corporation fraud case has been postponed until October 1.

The matter involves former superintendent of roads and works, Sanja Eliott; former secretary manager and director of finance, David Harris; and temporary works overseer, Kendale Roberts; along with co-convicts Dwayne Sibbles and Tashagaye Goulbourne-Elliott.

Elliott, Harris, Roberts, and Sibbles were not present in court yesterday as inmates are now disallowed from entering court due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Goulbourne-Elliott, who did not receive a custodial sentence, appeared in court, along with Harris' wife.

It was revealed that Harris and Roberts had arrangements to be settled with their attorneys before the matter could proceed.

Harris' wife said she had no idea when she would be able to settle those arrangements.

However, the judge said he was granting the the defendants two weeks to settle legal representation.

Tamara Bailey

Shineka Gray murder trial gets sixth starting date

WESTERN BUREAU:

The long-awaited trial of Gregory Roberts and Mario Morrison, the two men charged with the 2017 murder of St James schoolgirl Shineka Gray, has now been set to begin on March 8, 2021.

Roberts and Morrison were given the sixth trial date by presiding High Court Justice Stephanie Jackson-Haisley when they appeared in court via video link yesterday.

Lead prosecutor Kimberly Williams indicated that the prosecution would be calling 27 witnesses although the case will not be tried by jury due to the COVID-19 restrictions.

Gray, who was a grade 10 student at Green Pond High School in the parish, was last seen alive in Montego Bay, St James, on her way home from the funeral of a schoolmate.

The two defendants were arrested and charged with murder after her body was found on February 1, 2017, with multiple stab wounds in bushes in Irwin, St James, three days after the 15-year-old was reported missing.

Christopher Thomas

Education ministry establishes COVID task force

Education Minister Fayval Williams is to chair an Education COVID-19 (E-COVID) Management Task Force to reach consensus among stakeholders as it weighs options for the reopening and management of schools.

This was announced by Williams yesterday at a meeting also attended by State Minister Robert Morgan, Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) representatives, and senior officers of the ministry.

The task force will also comprise representatives of stakeholders, including the JTA, the Jamaica Association of Principals of Secondary Schools, the Joint Committee for Tertiary Education, the Jamaica Union of Tertiary Students, the Ecumenical Education Committee, The University of the West Indies Guild of Students, the National Council on Education, and the Jamaica Independent Schools Association, among others.

Yesterday's meeting focused on the infrastructure in place at schools to allow for online and remote learning as well as the administrative protocols for the new school year.