Rape Trial Aborted Over Legal Error; Retrial Set for September
A rape trial in Antigua and Barbuda has been aborted after a High Court judge ruled that a serious prosecutorial error risked compromising the defendant’s right to a fair trial.
Justice Annmarie Smith discharged the jury and ordered a retrial for 25 September 2025, after the prosecution referenced a “recent complaint” made by the alleged victim—a concept abolished under local law decades ago.
The accused, a man in his early 30s, faces charges of rape and serious indecency involving a woman in her 20s. The complainant alleges she was assaulted while asleep after a night of drinking.
Defence attorney Wendel Robinson described the prosecution’s move as “gravely prejudicial,” arguing it violated the legal reforms unique to Antigua and Barbuda, the only Eastern Caribbean jurisdiction to abolish the common law rule on recent complaints.
Justice Smith agreed, calling it a “grave error” and warning prosecutors to avoid introducing prejudicial material. The trial will now resume later this year with a new jury.
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WHAT THE HELL…! …SHEER PROSECUTORIAL INCOMPETENCE AT OFFICE OF DPP:
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HIGHLY COMMENDABLE OF ‘…HER LADYSHIP, JUSTICE ANN-MARIE SMITH.’
CROWN PROSECUTORS SHALL KNOW THAT:
‘THE DOCTRINE OF RECENT COMPLAINT’ DOES NOT AFFECT:
(i) ‘…A RAPE VICTIM’S RIGHT: or
(ii) …A BUGGERIZED VICTIM (MALE/FEMALE) TO MAKE A ‘…REPORT’ TO THE POLICE, EVEN AFTER ’10-YEARS AFTER THE INCIDENT.’
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MEDICAL EVIDENCE:
THE ONLY DIFFICULTY FOR CRIMINAL INVESTIGATORS WILL BE THE ‘…UNAVAILABILITY OF MEDICAL EVIDENCE- SWABBING ETC. FOR SPERMOTOZA.’
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LEFT TO:
(i) ‘…CHARACTER OF THE VICTIMIZED:
(ii) …REPUTATION:
(iii) …CREDIBILITY: and
(iv) …I-N-T-E-G-R-I-T-Y.’
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NEWLY-APPOINTED DPP:
NOW THAT THERE IS A ‘…NEWLY-APPOINTED DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS (DPP), HE MAY WISH TO EMULATE ‘…PRIME MINISTER GASTON BROWNE.’
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LAZY PERMANENT WIMPS:
SUMMONING SOME APPARENT ‘…LAZY AND PERMANENT WIMPS,’ BEFORE THE ‘…CABINET OF MINISTERS,’ HE HAD ‘…READ THE RIOT ACT’ THAT THEY SHALL ‘…BUCK-UP’ TO ACCEPTABLE STANDARD OF PERFORMANCE, AND THEREBY ENSURE: inter alia
(a) ‘…PRODUCTIVITY INCREASES:
(b) …ABSENTEEISM DECREASES.’ [ANR: May 23, 2025].
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CORRECTING PROSECUTORIAL INCOMPETENCE:
INSTRUCTIVELY, WHEN FORMER CHIEF MAGISTRATE, JOANNE WALSH ACTED AS ‘…DPP,’ SHE ENDEAVORED TO ELIMINATE ‘…PROSECUTORIAL INCOMPETENCE’ AMONG THE ‘…FEMALE DOMINATED CROWN PROSECUTORS.’
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RECOMMENDATION
REMOVE:
(i) ‘…THE ‘…GROSSLY INCOMPETENT CROWN PROSECUTORS:’ and
(ii) …PROTECT THE ‘…INTEGRITY OF THE OFFICE OF DPP.’
STAFF GOOD.
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No proper lawyer works for government for a salary. A lawyer can make that salary handling one land sale or mortgage. Lawyers who work in AG’s offices and as Magistrates are those who could not cut it in private practice
And this is also the problem we now have with most Judges.Many of them have done little or no actual court work but have been Registrars or worked in AG’s offices. They have very little litigation or trial experience. That is why we need to stick with the Privy Council.
WHAT THE HELL…! …BENEFIT OF KNOWLEDGE: …BE STILL AND KNOW
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IT IS INTENDED ONLY FOR THE ‘…BENEFIT OF KNOWLEDGE: of
(i) ‘…GENERAL PUBLIC/CITIZENRY:
(ii) …STATEMENT-TAKING CRIMINAL INVESTIGATORS:
(iii) …HEAD OF CID:
(iv) …HEAD OF OFFICE OF DPP:
(v) …COMMITAL MAGISTRATES:
(vi) …CROWN PROSECUTORS: and
(vii) …ESTEEMED FRIEND, DAVE RAY,
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THE ‘…SEXUAL OFFENCES ACT,’ IS IS THE LAW THAT:
(a) …GUIDES ‘…TRIAL JUDGES: and
(b) …THE ‘…SECTION OF LAW’ WHICH, OBVIOUSLY, GUIDED TRIAL JUDGW ‘…HER LADYSHIP, JUSTICE ANNMARIE SMITH.’
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APPRISED BY DEFENCE COUNSEL:
THIS CAME AFTER BEING ‘..APPRISED’ BY ‘…DEFENCE ATTORNEY, WENDELL ROBINSON-ALEXANDER’ OF THE PREJUDICIAL EFFECT ON:
(i) ‘…THE ACCUSED: and on
(ii) …JUSTICE’ AS A WHOLE.’
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THE PROVISION STATES:
‘…THE COMMON LAW RULES RELATING TO ‘…EVIDENCE OF RECENT COMPLAINT’ IN SEXUAL OFFENCE CASES, ARE ABOLISHED’ [Section 28: Sexual Offences Act: No: 9 of 1995].
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NOW:
GIVEN THE DEVELOPMENTS AT TRIAL, TRUTH BE TOLD, WITH THE ‘…EVIDENCE GIVEN BY THE ‘…DEPONENT/WITNESS,’ THESE ARE THE PERSONS WHO APPEARED NOT TO HAVE KNOWN OF:
(a) ‘…THE ‘..ABOLISHMENT OF THE PRINCIPLE CALLED: ‘…RECENT COMPLAINT: where
(b) … SUCH INCIDENT SHALL BE ‘…IMMEDIATELY REPORTED’ [COMMON LAW].
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THESE ARE THE CULPRITS:
(i) ‘…THE CRIMINAL INVESTIGATOR:
(ii) …HIS SUPERVISOR (Vetting Case Files and guide subordinates):
(iii) …HEAD OF CID (Vetter/Dispatcher of Case File to office of DPP):
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(iv) …DPP (Who shall thoroughly peruse to ensure ‘,,,Case File’ and evidential contents are sufficient in ‘…Directing the holding of ‘Committal Proceedings):
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(v) …COMMITTAL MAGISTRATE (Who shall consider the Evidence before Committing):and
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(vi) …ASSIGNED CROWN PROSECUTOR (Apparent starved for knowledge Crown Counsel representing DPP).’
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BEFORE HE LEFT, WHAT BOLD FACE SAID…?
DON’T EVEN REMENBER ‘…WHAT THE HELL, BOLD FACE SAID.’
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THOUGH NOT SURE EXACTLY WHEN, MAY STILL ASK HIM LATER.
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WALK GOOD.
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Smdh. Hopefully that teaches you a lesson to be more alert. If you think you had too much to drink got home or at your mother home or somewhere where u trust the person.
In NO way am I blaming you. Just saying stay alert
Can someone please simplify for this common Dunce, cause… me nah understand.