The Office Director of Public Prosecutions says it intends to drop the criminal case against teacher and activist Adriana King, who was accused of trying to block then-prime minister Ralph Gonsalves from entering Parliament on Aug. 5, 2021.
The decision follows the Court of Appeal ruling on Wednesday that overturned the May 28, 2024 order by Magistrate John Ballah staying the case permanently.
This means that King can be prosecuted for the charge. However, during Wednesday’s appearance before the Court of Appeal, Crown Counsel Cornelius Tittle informed the higher court that the DPP’s office had no interest in pursuing the matter but was interested in the point of law.
That is, the Office of the DPP wanted the Court of Appeal to clarify when a magistrate can stay a matter due to delay.
The Court of Appeal commended the DPP’s office for its position, and the president of the three-judge panel, Justice of Appeal Trevor Ward KC, said he’s holding the DPP’s office to their word.
King represented herself during Wednesday’s appearance before the Court of Appeal.
With the Court of Appeal’s decision, the case will be remitted to the magistrate’s court, where the prosecution is expected to formally discontinue the charge.
In making his decision in 2024, Ballah had relied on the Magistrate’s Court guidelines for stay when there is a delay.
However, the Court of Appeal held that these are guidelines and not to be relied on as limits.
The higher court noted that in King’s case, the defendant was responsible for five adjournments, the prosecution for two, and the court for one, over two years.
The Court of Appeal further noted that the application for stay was made in October 2023 and the stay granted in May 2024.
King’s legal team had applied for the stay but requested adjournment twice between the application and the judgment.
Kay Bacchus-Baptiste represented King during her appearances before the magistrate’s court.
The Court of Appeal ruled that the delay did not prejudice the defendant and set aside Ballah’s decision
King is charged that on Aug. 5, 2021, in Kingstown, she attempted to impede Gonsalves’ access to the House of Assembly.
The incident occurred as hundreds of protesters gathered in Kingstown to demonstrate against proposed legislation mandating COVID-19 vaccinations for public sector workers, which was later passed into law.
Speaking with iWitness News on Thursday, King said that while she expected the court to rule as it did on Wednesday, she is concerned about the public’s doubts about her innocence, since the court never vindicated her.
“You have that to turn to. You can say to people, ‘Well, they lost their case against me because they had no evidence, because they failed to prove what they were accusing me of.’ So, you have that to say. But when a matter is nolle prosequi, as they say, you don’t have that.”
King maintained she would have won the case even if the state had not dropped the charges.
“They had absolutely nothing to present to the magistrate. Their only shred of, I don’t even want to use — I can’t use the word ‘evidence’ — but the only thing that they had was a witness statement by the then assistant superintendent of police, who is now Commissioner of Police, Trevor ‘Buju’ Bailey. The only thing that they have is a statement from him, and even with that statement…the charge changed a number of times over the years. So, for instance, I started off initially charged with blocking Ralph Gonsalves from entering Parliament, then it was changed to me doing something to block him from entering Parliament, and then it was changed to me doing something that could have led to him being blocked from Parliament — more or less thinking about doing it,” King said.
Reflecting on the incident, she said people present could review their video footage to see when it allegedly happened.
“Adriana was nowhere around, and in fact, I myself was doing a live. I was actually on a live on Facebook when … the then prime minister was going into Parliament,” she said, adding that she was broadcasting from near the prison gates and nowhere near Gonsalves.
King, a teacher, was interdicted (suspended from the classroom) after the charge. She insisted that authorities should interdict a defendant only if the matter relates directly to their work or if they suspect the worker is interfering with students.
The interdiction placed King on half pay. For the first four years, the half pay was not enough to cover her mortgage, which caused the account to fall into arrears, she said.
“I even got … a letter from the bank … reminding me to make payments and that sort of thing, so my mortgage went into arrears thanks to this matter,” she said, adding that she also had a daughter to take care of.
“So you could imagine I have to try to stretch the impossible, the invisible, but at the end of the day, as we say, God is good, and I’m still standing.”
She said it has been about six years since the matter was initiated, and her prospects for career growth, such as migrating, were put on hold.
However, at the end of April 2026, King received her full salary along with outstanding payments.
“When we’re looking at these trumped-up criminal charges and the effects they have on people, we have to always remember to look beyond the money, because whatever ambitions I had in terms of my career development were also put on hold,” King said.
“But I want people to remember that even though there might … [be] times in life where it seems as if everything is against you, just don’t give up. Just keep your head up.”
King said she developed herself during the legal battle.
“I took some sewing classes. I did a course at the University of the West Indies. I concentrated on my small business, and those things kept me going.
“So, we also have to look at that sort of impact, the impact on the development of the person being affected by all of this, the mental strain that might come along with things, and, like I said, opportunities that they could lose…”
She added that she has completed several short courses in recent years, including dressmaking and human resource management, where she was the highest performer, and is now pursuing another certificate focused on occupational health and safety.
King said she has also written a book on essay-writing that several schools locally and in the Caribbean use.
However, one of her biggest hurts because of the interdiction was not being able to travel to Trinidad to attend the funeral of an uncle who passed away.
Despite the setbacks, King said that the case made her more determined to fight for human rights.
“Because I realised how easy it is for people with power to abuse the systems that are in place, legal and otherwise, and so you have to fight back against those things. You must always fight back against those things.”
While she is unsure whether the DPP will bring the matter back to court, she plans to continue raising issues surrounding autism and special education needs.
“… and we’ll see what the government has in place for Adriana King,” she said, referring to her status as a public sector worker.
She also shared that the six-year battle positively affected her daughter, as she sees her as a heroine.
“She thinks that I can do everything that there is.”
King said that when she started learning to sew, her daughter would go around bragging about her mother.
“You know how mommy sews…and she would go around just bragging about her mom.”
King also said her daughter grew attached to her media work, becoming upset when King stopped hosting a weekly online programme on Wednesday evenings.
“… ‘you have to do your programme. People are looking forward to hearing you. You have to keep doing your programme’,” she quoted her teenage daughter as saying.
King added that her daughter has seen what it means to be Vincentian, an activist, and a woman of integrity.
“And I love that because these are also things that I was able to see in my own mother, who was involved in the trade union as a teacher.”
King said she wants to be remembered as someone who stood up for democracy and people’s right to make choices about their bodies.
“And that ability to choose should always be respected and protected; I want to be remembered as a woman who was not afraid of her own shadow.”