Cayman Marl Road owner’s trial goes off track

(CNS): The criminal case against Sandra Hill, the owner of the Cayman Marl Road website, who has been accused of bullying local businessman Matthew Leslie after she accused him of being a paedophile and paying women for sex, appeared to go off track last week when a judge urged Hill’s attorney to stick to the substance of the charges, as the lawyer used his cross-examination time to question Leslie on Hill’s allegations against him rather than the charges against her.

Following a catalogue of issues surrounding the case, it has overrun its allotted court time and has been adjourned until 17 June.

The crown opened the case against Hill on Monday, alleging that she used an ICT network to abuse, annoy or harass Leslie, largely through a live broadcast on Facebook and the CML site, as well as through articles about the local businessman. Crown counsel Darlene Oko said Hill used the ICT network and social media to harass Leslie with serious accusations of sexual crimes and dishonesty, none of which have been proven.

But the trial has veered off track on several occasions. Since the public could not attend due to the COVID-19 curfew, Hill decided to stream the court’s special Zoom feed on her website. She also continued to post content relating to Leslie and opinions about how the trial has gone.

Oko tried to get Hill’s bail revoked because of the continued posting during the trial and accused her of prejudicing the court and insulting the judge presiding over the case, Justice Roger Chapple.

The judge has already said he believes that the question of whether Hill’s allegations against Leslie are true or not is irrelevant in this case because the charge, which Hill has denied, is harassing him via an ICT network. As a result, he told defence attorney Clayton Phuran to stop questioning Leslie about the allegations Hill made against him.

The court also heard that the RCIPS had told Hill that if she had evidence that Leslie had committed any crimes, she should have gone to the police and encouraged the alleged victims to do so as well.

Hill, who is reporting on her own trial, has said on CMR that she intends to file a complaint against the prosecutor, claiming that Oko had attempted to have her bail revoked on the basis of hearsay. Hill said Oko made the application based on allegations by Leslie about the latest videos and stories but said the prosecutor had not looked at the information herself.