RSS Feed
Follow us on Twitter
Star YouTube Channel
Mullings
Steve Mullings will know today whether he will be banned for life. The Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission Disciplinary Panel will make its summation and announce its verdict at the Jamaica Conference Centre at 2 p.m. following closing submissions made by JADCo's attorney Langston Robinson and the attorney representing the embattled athlete, Alando Terrelonge.
The matter might have been settled yesterday but for Terrelonge's arrival at approximately 2:30 a.m., half-hour after the scheduled start. His delayed arrival was due to him addressing matters in the Half-Way Tree Resident Magistrate's Court.
Terrelonge apologised to the Lennox Gayle, Peter Prendergast and Japheth Forde and about an hour later tore into them for what he described as their failure to admit into evidence a sworn affidavit submitted by his client, who returned an adverse analytical finding for the diuretic Furosemide during the National Track and Field Championships in June that was used to select Jamaica's team to the 13th IAAF World Athletics Championships in Daegu, South Korea.
"Failure to admit the affidavit has had a devastating effect" on Mullings' testimony, he said.
Citing a rule that governs the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission that states that the 'JADCo Disciplinary Panel shall be fair and impartial in the performance of its functions', Terrelonge said the decision not to allow his client to testify by means of Skype and the rejection of the affidavit robbed his client of a chance at justice. "The rules of natural justice that should have been guaranteed to Mr Mullings were not adhered to."
In a fluent submission lasting about 25 minutes, Terrelonge highlighted several points that he said showed that there is no valid case against his client and that the charges against him should be dismissed. He submitted that Dr Paul Wright, the doping control officer from whom primary evidence was taken, admitted that he made errors in completing the form that was filled out when Mullings was being tested at the national championships. "It is undisputed fact that errors we made by Dr Wright," he said.
He also drew reference to testimony given by Cara Ann Bennett, the results manager at the JADCO, who said that while she was familiar with the functions of the World Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA) accredited labs, she was also aware that errors were made by one of those labs in a recent case involving a Brazilian volleyball player.
The dreadlocked attorney also mentioned that Mullings, who competed extensively throughout the season returned clean test results in meets prior to and after the national championships. He also challenged the chain of custody of Mullings sample between the time the sample was collected and the time it arrived at the lab in Canada on June 30.
Prior to Terrelonge's submission, JADCO's attorney Lackston Robinson during an hour-long submission said that the JADCO had established that a doping violation did occur and once that was done the burden then shifted to the athlete to prove that he did not intend to cheat.
He explained away the errors that were made on the doping control form that was submitted by Dr Wright and pointed to testimony by Mullings' chaperone, Dorel Savage, that Mullings brought his own drink to the testing area, dismissing suggestions that Mullings could have unknowingly ingested Furosemide prior to his drug test.
