CCJ gets going

THE wait has been long, there are problems in most territorial islands, but the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) will sit for the very first time on Monday August 8 in Port-of-Spain. Just two countries — Barbados and Guyana — are on board. The other islands still have to work out their legislative status regarding the Caribbean’s final court of appeal. Despite the setback, the regional Governments went ahead on April 16 with a lavish and expensive inauguration at Queen’s Hall, St Ann’s. On August 8, the CCJ will sit on Level five of the Unit Trust Corporation (UTC) building on Independence Square. According to a notice dated July 26 and issued by CCJ Registrar Paula Pierre, the first case is an application for special leave to appeal from the decision of the Court of Appeal of Barbados.

The applicant is Barbados Rediffusion Service Limited and the respondents, Asha and Ram Mirchandani and McDonald Farms Limited. That means, three of the CCJ judges will sit to hear this matter, instead of the full court of five. However, Newsday was unable to secure the names of the judges who will sit on the first case. The CCJ judges are Michael de la Bastide, president, Duke Pollard, Professor David Hayton, Rolston Nelson, Jacob Wit, Desiree Bernard, and Adrian Saunders. But plans by the general public and the legal fraternity to rush into the UTC building to look on at the historic special sitting, have been halted by Christie-Anne Morris-Alleyne, the Court executive administrator.

A notice issued by Morris-Alleyne on July 26 states “the public is hereby advised that the court is in temporary accommodation and therefore for this sitting, public seating is extremely limited.” The CCJ judges and staff have been functioning from very cramped accommodation at the UTC building. This is because the building earmarked for the court is not yet ready. The UNC Government, which signed the agreement in Barbados in 1998 establishing the court, spent millions of dollars to refurbish the Winsure building on Richmond Street, Port-of-Spain. After the work was completed, it turned out to be inappropriate for the CCJ. So, the authorities went building hunting and found a suitable building on upper Henry Street. However, the owners of the building had to make adjustments to accommodate the CCJ, staff and courtrooms.

The building is not yet ready, so the CCJ has to sit in the cramped conditions at UTC. Since the inauguration, the CCJ has produced the Appellate Jurisdiction Rules 2005, outlining how the court will function. The CCJ has now issued an advisory for attorneys appearing before the court. Lawyers appearing in Trinidad will enjoy a certain status, such as immunity from personal arrest or detention in relation to words spoken or written, or acts performed by them in relation to proceedings before the court. They will also be exempt from immigration restrictions, alien registration requirements and national service obligation. Just as it is done in the Privy Council, lawyers are required to move from their seats at the Bar Table to the speaker’s lectern to address the court. In the Caribbean, lawyers remain at the Bar Table and address the judges.

Barbados’ attorney general Mia Mottley has already indicated that her government will proceed to the CCJ to determine the status of convicted killers Lennox Boyce and Jeffrey Joseph. The Barbados High Court stopped the executions of the two men in 2003. The government went to the Privy Council in 2004 which ordered that Boyce and Joseph should have their death sentences commuted to life imprisonment. But Mottley plans to take the case to the CCJ, hoping to have the death penalty restored against the two condemned men.