CCJ Judge Desiree scores another first

THE FIRST and only female judge of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), Madame Justice Desiree Bernard, is hoping to settle down as early as possible to start to administrate justice and do what she was appointed to do. With those words Justice Bernard indicated her keen interest in effecting matters of justice in a brisk manner for the benefit of Caribbean people. “I feel the CCJ has a real role to play. It is time for us to administer justice to our own people according to our own customs and traditions and cultures, and I really am glad to be given the opportunity to serve,” said Justice Bernard. “And I hope that all the challenges will be removed to getting the court going.”

From her lofty office on the fifth floor of the Unit Trust Corporation building in Port-of-Spain, Justice Bernard has the privilege of working along with seven judges as well as Guyanese colleague Duke Pollard. Her circumstance is not unique, as the only female in a male-dominated realm. Prior to her appointment as CCJ judge, Justice Bernard was Chief Justice and Chancellor of the Judiciary in Guyana and the Commonwealth Caribbean, becoming the first female to do so. She was a High Court judge from 1980 to 1992, and Justice of Appeal from 1992 to 1996. She served as Chief Justice from 1996 up to 2001, when she became Chancellor. “That experience was overwhelming!” Looking ahead, she said: “I feel confident. We are embarking on something that is new in the Caribbean, and it is challenging more than anything else, because we are now crafting a new court to replace the Privy Council.”

A boast of more than 40 years experience in the judicial system is an accomplishment! It was her mother’s dream to give birth to a son and for him to pursue law. “Strangely enough,” said the only child born to the teacher, “she didn’t tell me this until after I went into law. In those days, women chose careers in teaching, nursing, and the Public Service. She used to admire lawyers and how they appeared in court.” Her mother died 11 years ago at age 95. Her father, who was a police officer, died at age 80. Justice Bernard was born in Georgetown, Guyana, and on leaving primary school, won a scholarship to pursue studies at Bishop’s Anstey High School. “When I graduated from Bishop’s at A’ Levels, I had to decide what career to pursue. I thought of teaching but then a very good family friend suggested going into law. I thought that law was very, very difficult for me because I never saw myself as a lawyer, but I said alright.”

After obtaining her LLB degree at the University of London, England, and graduating from the Society School of Law, Justice Bernard returned to Guyana to practice law. “Two years later I took over my own practice from another lawyer who was going abroad, and I was in practice for 13 years and then I was invited by the then Chancellor to join the judiciary,” Justice Bernard said. She recalled her most outstanding cases in her judicial career: “It was my first rape case. That one really affected me because it was a rape of a 14-year-old by her stepfather or uncle — it was a close relative. But I was really horrified by it and I sentenced him to about 25 years jail and regretted that I didn’t have the power to order castration. I really felt strongly about that case, because along the lines I became involved in women’s issues.

“To think this man is a big man about in his 50s or 60s and this little girl, it really sent me overboard and after I had to tell myself ‘you have to see this as any other case and don’t get too emotionally involved in it’.” During the years 1984-1988, Justice Bernard was chairperson of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women. She was also secretary of the Caribbean Women’s Association, and president of the Organisation of Commonwealth Caribbean Bar Association (OCCBA). When asked what she found the Caribbean justice system was lacking, Justice Bernard responded: “I think it might be true of justice throughout the Caribbean that we do strive to effect justice between parties, but generally the administration of justice in most territories needs more funds, funds being allocated to raise the standards. But having said that, it’s not easy.

People blame the courts for not being able to meet the needs of people, but I always like to draw the analogy of a bottomless pit. You pull out and as fast as you pull out more cases come in, so it’s a continuous flow and people complain that cases take too long and so on. But most keep coming than you are able to carry out and that slows down the process... “I don’t know if there’s no ready answer...but I think, generally we strive our best, because it’s something not instant, it’s not an assembly line, you know, one after the other. One would have to think out matters carefully and apply the law to the particular facts and it’s not instant, you can’t rush the judgment, so this takes time.” She said that the occurrence of persons being acquitted of murder in Trinidad was also common in Guyana. “You can’t blame the judge...that’s the jury system at work. Once you entrust a case to 12 persons, laymen, once they are properly directed by the judge it’s in their hands, the court and the judge steps back and they are the ultimate judges of the facts.

The judge can only direct them on the law and if properly directed, and they come up with a judgment with a decision which the public may not feel is fair, it’s the jurors’ decision. Of course there is always the appellate process and when it goes to the appeal. If it is founded that the judge didn’t do his or her function correctly the court has failed. But ultimately it’s a jury function. I know it is difficult for the public to understand. We have the same complaints in Guyana — “How could that person get off” and we say “What can you do about it?” Her best years were during her tenure as Justice of Appeal as she enjoyed writing decisions and hence, she is pleased of her new post. Since her appointment as CCJ judge is full-time she will take up full residence in Trinidad. She will miss her Georgetown home, she confided, and friends and will from time to time, visit her adopted daughter Carol Ann Bernard, who is an attorney-at-law in the Bahamas. “Actually, Carol Ann was here for my inauguration and she calls me everyday.

I tell her when she comes to Trinidad it’s like coming home because she was born in Trinidad. I adopted her when she was just two months old.” Justice Bernard was never married, simply because “I was never asked. And when I became judge, that must have put paid to it, meaning that, that was it,” she laughed. She said that law has shaped her life in being disciplined and fair. “I said if I were to die and come again I would become a lawyer because it opens up perspectives to all aspects of life and you tend to look at things analytically and you think them out rather than acting on impulse. It really makes you a more disciplined person, you can’t afford to be indisciplined particularly when you are a judge. It  also brings out the fairness in you in that you don’t rush to judgment and you should hear both sides because there’s always another side and as a result, you come up with an informed decision.”