A Dundee sheriff has called for a “full investigation” after the Crown revealed it intended producing 35 potential witnesses for a trial of a Nigerian man threatened with deportation despite not telling the sheriff clerk or defence lawyers.
Sheriff Tom Hughes told the depute fiscal at Wednesday’s sheriff court hearing: “You can’t just turn up and say, ‘let’s start a trial with 35 witnesses’.
He was speaking during the case of Dennis Ahonsi, 24, of Thurso Crescent, who maintained his plea of not guilty to three charges of following a lone woman and teenage girls in Dundee.
Addressing depute fiscal Vicky Bell, Sheriff Hughes asked how long a trial was going to take.
He said: “We cannot keep loading up the courts with these cases. The information I have received from the clerk is that they weren’t told there were 35 witnesses.”
Ahonsi’s defence solicitor Jack Brown also said he was only aware of five witnesses and had not yet been given the opportunity of seeing CCTV evidence.
Sheriff Hughes said: “I want a full investigation into whether or not this trial can realistically run and what the impact would be on the other business the court has on that day.”
Ahonsi is also due to be deported on December 17 but it is understood this will not now happen until the trial is concluded.
A further intermediate diet will call on Wednesday in order to allow an investigation into that and how long the trial might last.
Ahonsi faces three charges of conducting himself in a disorderly manner likely to cause fear and alarm to a lone female by asking her personal questions in Hilltown on November 13; and to 13-year-old girls in Spey Drive on two separate occasions, on November 16 when he claimed to be their friend and asked them to accompany him on a walk and November 21 when alleged stared at girls.
Ahonsi was refused bail and will be remanded in custody.
Sheriff Hughes’ criticisms came just a day after Sheriff Richard Davidson called for heads to roll in the police and procurator fiscal’s offices after a trial was adjourned due to a witness not having been cited.
His comments followed several months of “chaos” at Dundee Sheriff Court, where dozens of trials have had to be adjourned due to “lack of court time and space”.
Sheriff Davidson told depute fiscal Trina Sinclair: “Between the administration in your office and in the police office, some P45s are required somewhere along the line.”
That comment was described by the Crown office as “inappropriate” while a police spokesperson said the reporting officer in the case had explained the reasons for the failure to trace the witness, which was accepted by the sheriff.
Sheriffs Davidson and Hughes, along with Sheriff Alastair Brown, have criticised the Crown and the Scottish Courts Service over the situation at Dundee Sheriff Court, which they say is creaking at the seams due to the Crown “overloading the courts with trials” which are unlikely to be able to start.
This has resulted, they say, in depute fiscals in court having to ask for time-bar extensions for accused persons who have been on remand for the maximum period of 110 days while awaiting trial.