Security concerns halted the trial of seven men accused of a weapon-wielding attack for an hour yesterday.

Defence lawyers in the case expressed fears that there was zero Police presence at Supreme Court One.

One, Victoria Pearman, said she did not wish to disrespect the judge, but she would not begin the day's proceedings until she felt safe.

"I'm not trying to waste time with this but it's serious. Ultimately I have responsibility for the safety of myself and my client," she said. "I need to be able to feel safe in this court and I don't feel safe in this court."

The men on trial, who are all from St. George's, are Detroy Smith, 24, Kyle Tannock Williams, 28, Damon Darrell, 28, Bennett Phipps, 26, Allan Douglas, 22, Kiawan Trott, 25, and Kiwaun Gilbert, 23.

They are accused of being part of a 50-strong group armed with weapons who descended on Mr. Furbert's Hamilton Parish house on the night of February 27 last year with baseball bats, machetes, helmets, an electric drill and canes. They deny assaulting Mr. Furbert with intent to do grievous bodily harm and damaging his family home by smashing the windows.

Lawyers for all seven agreed with Ms Pearman, who represents Smith, that the court could be unsafe without Police guarding it. They'd flagged up similar concerns on Friday before the trial began, and on Monday when it got underway.

Police were put in place to guard the doors on Monday as a result, but did not return at 9.30 a.m. yesterday when victim Temasgan Furbert was due to resume his evidence.

Elizabeth Christopher, who represents Tannock Williams, said she had "very, very specific concerns with respect to safety" which she did not wish to elaborate on in open court.

Prosecutor Robert Welling said Police were supposed to be doing a risk assessment, and suggested it was not sensible to continue until the court was satisfied that had been done.

Puisne Judge Carlisle Greaves said he did not know why there were no Police, and neither he nor the Supreme Court Registrar had been able to communicate with any senior officer.

He concurred with the views expressed by the lawyers and halted the case until 10.30 a.m. when a total of eight uniformed Police took up positions outside and inside the courtroom.

The jury of 12 women was out when the matter was discussed. Usually, the media is banned from reporting proceedings in the absence of the jury, but the judge said on this issue: "It's a matter of public interest, so no bar to them."

Asked why there was no Police presence yesterday morning, Commissioner of Police Michael DeSilva said: "The issue of security at Supreme Court for the current trial was brought to my attention early Monday morning and I dispatched one of my senior officers who resolved the matter quite quickly.

"Unfortunately today, the system didn't work quite as well and there was a delay in communicating to the right people to get their staff in position on time. We ran about an hour behind, but we have taken steps to avoid any more confusion this week. I am quite certain that the Police presence now at the court will remove any fears that may have been expressed, and that the trial can resume without further interruption."