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A 2022 charge of incitement preferred against the political leader of the United Workers Party, Dr. Thomson Fontaine is now committed to the High Court for trial. Dr. Fontaine who is on $75,000.00 bail is accused of inciting violence and obstruction of justice in connection to the February 7, 2017, riot in the city of Roseau.<\/p>\n
On that day, the UWP held a meeting on Kennedy Avenue in Roseau calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit succeeding which time, numerous businesses were vandalized in the capital city. Several opposition
\nmembers were subsequently charged with inciting violence and obstructing justice.<\/p>\n
Charges were brought against other opposition members including former Prime Minister Edison James, former leader of the UWP Lennox Linton, former Deputy political leader of the UWP, Joshua Francis, along with Nicholas George
\nand former UWP Member of Parliament (now Speaker of the House of Assembly), Joseph Isaac.<\/p>\n
While the matter against James, Francis, George, and Isaac has been adjourned sine die<\/em> (without a set date for resumption), Linton and Dr. Fontaine are left to answer the charges.<\/p>\n On April 23, 2022, Dr. Fontaine was arrested at the Douglas Charles airport on arrival in Dominica, on a bench warrant issued by former Magistrate Asquith Riviere on November 22, 2018, following his failure to appear at two court hearings. He later appeared in court on April 29, where bail was granted to him, and on May 9, the court granted a variation of bail giving him permission to travel to South Sudan where he is currently employed as the Policy Advisor to that government.<\/p>\n One year later, on April 28, 2023, the Preliminary Inquiry into the case against Dr. Fontaine commenced. The prosecutor, Trinidadian attorney Queen\u2019s Counsel, Israel Khan assisted by his son Daniel Khan, informed the court of their intent to proceed with the case by way of paper committal. Consequently, during the committal process, the witnesses’ statements and documentary evidence were tendered to the Court without the witnesses having to testify at the Preliminary Inquiry.<\/p>\n Dr. Fontaine is expected to stand trial before a Judge and jury should he plead not guilty at the High Court.<\/p>\n With regards to the summary charge of obstruction of justice, which Dr. Fontaine pleaded not guilty to, trial in this matter is expected to begin on December 15, 2023, at the Magistrate\u2019s Court. The UWP\u2019s leader is represented by attorneys Cara Shillingford-Marsh and Tiyani Behanzin.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, former political leader of the UWP, Lennox Linton has expressed his dissatisfaction with the procedural delays of his matter. In April when Linton returned to court for the commencement of his matter, the case was adjourned yet again to September 14, 2023. Four Magistrates have since recused themselves from Linton\u2019s case, including Magistrate Michael Laudat who presided over Dr. Fontaine\u2019s matter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A 2022 charge of incitement preferred against the political leader of the United Workers Party, Dr. Thomson Fontaine is now committed to the High Court for trial. Dr. Fontaine who is on $75,000.00 bail is accused of inciting violence…","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":301286,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","footnotes":""},"categories":[19,286,77,235,9,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-305994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime-court-law","category-governance","category-homepage","category-homepage-carousel","category-news","category-politics"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n