A dramatic shift in judicial procedure has unfolded at the Kingstown Magistrate’s Court in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, after Chief Magistrate Colin John made the unusual decision to step away from every legal matter that features defense attorney Jomo Thomas as part of the legal team. The unprecedented recusal was triggered by a controversial social media post that John claims was published by Thomas on Facebook.
The announcement was made publicly in open court on Monday, during a scheduled hearing for 35-year-old Okeeno Fergus, a resident of Lowmans Windward who is currently facing two firearms-related charges. Fergus stands accused of illegally possessing a Smith and Wesson M&P Shield 9mm pistol and eight live rounds of 9mm ammunition on May 17 at his Lowmans Windward residence, in violation of the country’s Firearms Act.
When Fergus was first arraigned before Chief Magistrate John on May 18, he entered a not guilty plea to both charges, appearing in court with a white medical dressing covering a wound on his forehead. John granted Fergus bail set at 15,000 Eastern Caribbean dollars, conditional on one surety, required the defendant to comply with regular police reporting conditions, and adjourned the initial proceeding for June 1. When Fergus returned for Monday’s hearing, the forehead wound had healed enough that he no longer required the dressing.
Beyond the Fergus firearms case, John also confirmed his recusal from a separate high-profile drug trafficking matter in which Thomas serves as defense counsel. That case involves 36-year-old Sebastian Audain (also known as Bush) of Lowmans Bay and 36-year-old Alvin Cyrus of Largo Height, who are charged with possession of 22.9 pounds of cocaine.
Following John’s announcement, the Chief Magistrate adjourned Fergus’ firearms case to the next business day, to be heard by a different judicial officer at the same Kingstown courthouse. When the case moved to Senior Magistrate Tammika McKenzie’s courtroom on Tuesday, McKenzie initially requested clarification from Thomas on why the matter had been reassigned to her docket. Thomas confirmed that Chief Magistrate John had issued a blanket recusal from all cases where he represented a client.
In a surprising procedural outcome, Senior Magistrate McKenzie adjourned Fergus’ case all the way to February 2027, a multi-year delay that marks an unusual timeline for a routine firearms hearing. This case is not the first time Thomas has represented Fergus in legal proceedings: court records show that in 2022, a High Court judge ordered the state and police Corporal Mohammed Lavia to pay financial compensation to Fergus after Lavia shot Fergus in the leg during an incident in Owia, with Thomas serving as Fergus’ legal representative in that civil claim.