A women's activist facing a fraud charge had her trial delayed for six weeks yesterday so she could examine the Police case against her.

Valirie Akinstall, founder of cash-strapped development group Akinstall International, once allowed a mystery benefactor to pay $20,000 to Coretta Scott King, the widow of Martin Luther King Jr., who spoke at a conference in May 1997.

But Ms Akinstall, of Point Finger Road in Paget, has denied obtaining credit by false pretences in separate incidents between July 10 and August 5 last year.

She defended herself in Magistrates' Court yesterday.

And she told Magistrate Carlisle Greaves she needed "at least eight hours'' to go through the prosecution's nine witness statements before the trial could go ahead.

Ms Akinstall, 42, claimed she had written nine letters to Police but had been allowed just one hour to take notes from the case file, supervised by Insp.

Anthony Mouchette.

He was called into court to clear up the confusion, telling Mr. Greaves: "Ms Akinstall has had two occasions to view the file -- on one occasion in my presence and on one occasion not in my presence.

"In my presence, I allowed her to make notes and informed her she was entitled to have a copy of her statement.

"She was at the desk for maybe and hour-and-a-half or two hours. She's not entitled to a copy of any other statements. That is a courtesy.'' Prosecutor Larry Mussenden offered to have the trial rescheduled and make the witness statements available once more.

Ms Akinstall said: "By me not having access to this file it really puts my life on hold.

"I don't want to be taken by surprise and not be prepared. I would like to defend myself.'' The accused left the court after becoming involved in angry scenes with the Magistrate, saying she felt the court needed to show "more sensitivity''.

Mr. Greaves set down a new trial date of October 19.