<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Monday 15th<\/sup>\nApril, 2019: (CIBS) Retired Trinidadian Judge Justice Stanley John has been\nreappointed by the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court to serve for a period of\nthree months. RELATED STORY<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lawyer Joseph Delves, the Instructing solicitor for the Douglas\nMendes-led legal team representing Returning Officer Ville Davis, Presiding\nOfficer Veronica John and former Supervisor of Elections Sylvia Findlay-Scrubb\nin an election petition filed by New Democratic Party\u2019s North Windward\ncandidate Lauron Baptiste, has written to the High Court Registrar seeking to\nhave retired Trinidadian Judge Justice Stanley John reappointed so he can\nexplain why he rejected two complaints in the petition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In his March 21st<\/sup>, 2019 judgement, Justice John\ndismissed the petition saying he found no evidence of the claims made by\nBaptiste. Among the contentions of the petitioner were the issue of 39 extra\ncounterfoils for which there were no matching ballots, the matter of the final\ncount of votes on December 10th<\/sup>, 2015, following the December 9th<\/sup> election\nin North Windward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Justice John pronounced on the other complaints but omitted those\ntwo complaints.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Delves first wrote to Registrar Andrea Young in a letter dated\nMarch 22nd<\/sup>, claiming that the Judge had omitted to give reasons he\nrejected two complaints by the petitioner. He followed up with one dated March\n27th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Justice John had omitted to explain why he rejected the issue of\n39 extra counterfoils for which there were no matching ballot and the issue of\nwhether a final count was conducted in the absence of the Form 16 statement of\npolls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The registrar wrote to Delves informing him that Justice John\u2019s\nappointment had ended on the same day he delivered the judgement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a letter dated April 4, 2019, he again wrote seeking for\nrepresentation to be made to the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court for the\nretired Judge to be reappointed so that he could address two important\nmatters raised in the petition brought by North Windward candidate Lauron\nBaptiste of the opposition New Democratic Party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Baptiste and Central Leeward candidate Benjamin Exeter filed\npetitions on December 31st<\/sup>, 2019, challenging the results of the\nDecember 9th<\/sup>, 2015 elections which they were declared\nunsuccessful. \n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Delves replied to the registrar on April 4, telling her that he\nunderstands from her April 1 letter that the judge is unable to provide the\nreasons requested in his letters of March 22 March because his appointment came\nto an end on March 21.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He noted that Baptiste has indicated, through his lawyer, his\nintention to appeal Justice John\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In his letter, Delves said that the Court of Appeal has made clear\non numerous occasions that where for any reason a first instance judge fails to\ngive reasons for his decision, \u201cthe Appellant is obliged to request those\nreasons and present them to the Court of Appeal for its consideration\u201d. He\ncited the cases of Bowen v Attorney General (ANUHCVAP 2013\/2016 4th<\/sup> November\n2013); and Thomas v Douglas (GDAHVCAP 2014\/0036 15th <\/sup>February,\n2016).<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cImplicit in the Court\u2019s settled practice is the obligation on the\nfirst instance judge to provide those reasons upon request. It is with this\nlearning in mind that the Respondents whom I represent have approached His\nLordship to provide his reasons in anticipation of the imminent appeal,\nnotwithstanding that the primary obligation to make this request falls on the\nprospective Appellant,\u201d Delves stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI do not understand you to be saying that His Lordship is\nunwilling to provide the reasons requested, or that my request for those\nreasons is in any way inappropriate. I understand you to be saying only that\nHis Lordship considers himself unable to provide those reasons because his appointment\nhad already come to an end when my request was conveyed to him the day after\nsaid expiration,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Delves said that the solution to the problem is to arrange for the\ntemporary appointment of Justice John in order that he may give his outstanding\nreasons, and in the circumstances, he was requesting that the – said letters be\nbrought urgently to the attention of the Chief Justice \u201cso that she may take\nsuch action as she deems fit and proper.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI look forward to your most URGENT acknowledgment of this letter and your equally URGENT confirmation that it has been delivered to the Honourable Chief Justice and to HIS Lordship Mr. Justice Stanley John,\u201d Delves wrote. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Photo credit IWIN<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Monday 15th April, 2019: (CIBS) Retired Trinidadian Judge Justice Stanley John has been reappointed by the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court to serve for a period of three months. Justice John, who presided over the February 2019 consolidated trial of the election petitions filed by New Democratic Party (NDP) candidates Lauron Baptiste and Benjamin Exeter following<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":3633,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-local-news"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nJustice John, who presided over the February\n2019 consolidated trial of the election petitions filed by New Democratic Party\n(NDP) candidates Lauron Baptiste and Benjamin Exeter following the December\n2015 elections, has been the main subject of commentary since he delivered his\njudgement on March 21st.
\nBaptiste and Exeter filed petitions on December\n31st, 2015, opposing the outcome of the December 9, 2015 elections in North\nWindward and Central Leeward which saw ULP candidates Montgomery Daniel and Sir\nLouis Straker, respectively, returned victorious. Justice John dismissed the\ntwo petitions, saying that, except for the claim of impartiality shown for the\nruling Unity Labour Party (ULP), there was no evidence to support the other\nclaims. His judgement, however, sparked controversy. As the petitioners and\ntheir lawyers prepare to file their appeal to the Eastern Caribbean Court of\nAppeal, the lawyers for the respondents in whose favor judgement was delivered,\nhave also raised concern over the judgement in that on two major issues raised\nin the Lauron Baptiste petition, Justice John failed to give reasons for\nrejecting them.
\nJustice John has been appointed to serve in\nAntigua and Barbuda from May 2nd to July 31st, 2019, according to a notice by\nthe Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n