Despite pleas for a speedy start to the preliminary inquiry (PI) in the sex photo case involving three senior Nation Publishing Company employees, a magistrate yesterday adjourned the matter until March next year.
Acting Magistrate Alliston Seale said the case against CEO and publisher Vivian-Anne Gittens, Editor-in-Chief Roy Morris and Editor Sanka Price was no more important than any other case.
Nation Publishing Co. Ltd. CEO and publisher Vivian-Anne Gittens (left) Editor-in-Chief Roy Morris (centre) and Editor Sanka Price (right) at a previous court appearance.
When the matter came up yesterday in the District “A” Magistrates’ Court, prosecutor Sergeant Janice Ifill told the court that the statements of witnesses had been delivered to the accused and a date for the PI had to be set.
Queen’s Counsel Alair Shepherd and attorney-at-law Ezra Alleyne both appealed for an expeditious PI in the case that was filed a year ago.
The charge of publishing an indecent photograph of two 14-year-olds engaged in a sexual act, stem from the October 26, 2013 publication of a photograph of two students apparently having sex in a classroom. The photograph had accompanied a back page story entitled Sex Scene.
Seale, noting that there were other accused who have been waiting as long as five years to have their matters adjudicated, said “no case . . . will take priority over any case”.
At the same time, he said, the preliminary inquiry should not be dragged on.
He set March 9, 2015 as the next court date for the trio.