By William Madouk
Caged businessman, Ayii Duang Ayii’s appearance at Malakia High Court has been postponed till next week.
Ayii failed to appear in court on Thursday, leaving a crowd that had convened to witness the hearing, in dilemma but this outlet later learnt that hiccups between Juba Central Prison and High court in Malakia led to the failure.
Ayii, who owns South Supreme Airline, was set to appear in court to respond to a ruling requiring him to pay $1,360,000 to the families of Pieri plane crash victims.
He was arrested early this month after failure to pay compensation to families of the plane victims as ordered by the court.
A lawyer to the victims’ families, Monyluak Alor told No. 1 Citizen Daily Newspaper on phone that the case was postponed for the second time because of confusion over Ayii’s transportation to the court premises.
“The judge did not come to court on Thursday; he was not on duty. So, the cases were suspended, and Ayii could not be brought to court, although a letter was sent earlier for the prison to bring him to court, on Thursday,” Alor explained.
Counsel Alor added that the court expected that the prison would transport Mr. Ayii to appear, but this never materialized because the prison only moved the inmate when they received an official statement.
“And then today the files of yesterday were put before the judge again, and many people thought that Ayii would also appear, but the prison, of course, moves when they have official communication,” he noted.
“So, the prison didn’t have communication to bring Ayii to court today because the session of yesterday was adjourned, and if Ayii was to be brought again, the prison would need another letter from the judge, which is the procedure,” he added.
But defense lawyer Alor said now that the new date has been set for Ayii to appear before the court next week, official communication would be relayed to the prison early next week.
“[The judge] looked at his diary, and he set the date of September 22nd, Friday next week. So, early next week, a letter will be sent to prison so that they can prepare Ayii for the court on Friday,” he stressed.