The wheels of justice continued to turn in Barbados despite the continued challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021.
Several high-profile cases dominated headlines even as the court reduced in-person capacity by suspending jury trials and fully embracing the online portal in a bid to prevent the spread of the virus as well as tackle the longstanding backlog plaguing the court system.
And unlike the seemingly unending pandemic which has cut short lives and caused a myriad of personal and economic trials, a court challenge against some COVID-19 directives died a quick death.
After days of legal arguments and counter-arguments, High Court Judge Madam Justice Jacqueline Cornelius threw out all constitutional challenges brought by Opposition Senator Caswell Franklyn and two businessmen – shopkeeper Adrian Kellman and minimart owner Benson Straker – to the directives.
Senator Franklyn had challenged the manner in which the Emergency Management legislation, crafted by the Mia Mottley-led administration, was imposed. He contended that the Government was illegally enforcing directives that did not have Parliament’s approval.
Kellman’s court action stemmed from the COVID-19 Monitoring Unit’s closure of his popular Kermit’s Bar in Thornbury Hill, Christ Church; while Straker and his business, Benson’s Minimart, sued Attorney General Dale Marshall and Commissioner of Police Tyrone Griffith, alleging that they acted unlawfully and beyond their legal power of authority in enforcing the Emergency Management (Amendment) Act which governs the directives.
But during a virtual sitting in October, Madame Justice Cornelius ruled the directives were a proportionate response to the pandemic and not a breach of any fundamental rights.
The High Court judge refused the claimants’ request for declarations that the actions of the defendants were ultra vires, unconstitutional, discriminatory, null and void, or of no effect in law.
In September, after months of hearing and adjournments mainly due to the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic, this island’s Chief Magistrate Ian Weekes ruled that Alex Tasker, the former Insurance Corporation of Barbados Ltd. (ICBL) executive linked to the Donville Inniss cash-for-coverage scandal, be turned over to United States authorities to stand trial.
But the extradition was stayed for 15 days from the day of the ruling, as Tasker remained on bail while his lawyers got set to appeal the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court decision.
US federal authorities want Tasker to be tried for his alleged role in a money laundering scheme that led to Inniss’ conviction for pocketing bribes to award government insurance contracts to ICBL.
Prosecutors allege that between August 2015 and April 2016, Tasker conspired with others to launder money in the US from outside the country, in violation of US law.
In November, the Chief Magistrate also closed the chapter on the long-running sedition case against President of the Prison Officers Association, Trevor Browne.
Browne had been accused of maliciously endeavouring to seduce fellow officers David Davis, Ophneal Austin, Shanell Ellis-Vaughn and Stephenson Trotman from their duties by participating in a sickout between May 1 and May 9, 2018.
But he was freed of the charges after Weekes expressed “concerns and doubts” as well as curiosity about the case.
“I must say that because of my use of the word curious, I really have not been satisfied with the prosecution’s case.
“This court will be in a strange and dangerous place given the nature of what the Prison Act says . . . . I definitely have my doubts in this matter,” Weekes said about the case brought under Section 27 of the Prison Act.
“I believe that it was partially a rush to judgment, especially on behalf of the chief investigator. And with those doubts and this court’s obligation by law . . . I am not satisfied as I should be in respect of the prosecution’s case.”
To Browne, he said, “given all of those circumstances I have found you not guilty – you are free to go”, even as the Crown stated its intention to appeal and Browne declared he would be “taking legal action as to what they did to me”.
Also in November, all eyes were again on the High Court where Justice Carlisle Greaves delivered a “long and strong” 25-year sentence on St Lucy gunmen Andre Lord Evil Jackman and his associates, Kaeron Sylvian Moore and Shane Hakeem Omar Babb, for the “tit-for-tat, gang-like” attack on their community three years ago.
The judge, in handing down the sentence, stated that the St Lucy community deserved “a long peace” from the trio.
Jackman, Moore and Babb were found guilty by a jury earlier this year of having an illegal firearm in their possession as well as unlawfully and recklessly engaging in conduct that placed Reshawn Greaves and Michael Abbott in danger of death or serious bodily harm on September 30, 2018. Moore and Babb were also found guilty of damaging a house belonging to Chrisandra Greaves.
For damaging Chisandra Greaves’ house, Moore and Babb were each given ten-year sentences, 15 years for using a firearm without a licence, and 15 years for conduct endangering the life of Reshaen Greaves.
But it was the charge for endangering Abbott’s life that the gavel came down on the convicts.
“I consider, therefore, that a sentence of 25 years is appropriate,” said Justice Greaves who said the jail terms would run concurrently with effect from October 21, 2021, minus the time they had spent on remand.
Police officer Everton Randolph Gittens walked free of three criminal charges, including murder, on December 21.
After years of hearing evidence, Magistrate Christie Cuffy-Sergeant, from the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court, ruled that based on the evidence, the charges against Gittens, of Lot 1 Dash Gap, Bank Hall, St Michael, “cannot be sustained and the holding of a prima facie case has not been made out by the prosecution”.
She added: “The accused . . . is discharged from this court . . . . You are free to go”.
Gittens had been charged with the March 15, 2015 murder of Selwyn Blues Knight. He was also accused of recklessly engaging in conduct that placed the deceased’s son, Junior Knight in danger of death or serious bodily harm and unlawfully wounding him with intent to maim, disfigure or disable him or to cause him some serious bodily harm.
Knight and his son were allegedly shot by Gittens at Dash Gap while they were apprehending a man who had just broken into their home and stolen two tablets.
Knight’s grieving widow, who had been calling for justice, said she had been bracing herself for an unexpected verdict
“Through the six years, I braced myself for ‘what if’. I always had myself braced for anything that would happen. And the way I see things was going in the court, I knew that I had a hard task. So, I just relax my shoulders, breathe in and tek it like a woman,” she said.
The courts came to a close for the holiday break but the judicial system has been busy putting measures to balance the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and dispensing justice in the New Year.
fernellawedderburn@barbadostoday.bb
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