Tuesday February 9th, 2010
- Last update:14 hours 54 min ago
Court boycott by state lawyers averted...
Gaspard acts as DPP
Published: 18 Sep 2009
LEFT: Justice Carla Brown-Antoine, left, with her mother, Hazel Brown, at President’s House yesterday.
RIGHT: Justices Andre Mon Desir (above) and Ronnie Boodoosingh (below) take the oath of office. PHOTOS: KARLA RAMOO
A crisis was averted at the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) yesterday. State lawyers were planning to stay away from court yesterday, the first official day of the new law term. They were doing so in light of reports that Prime Minister Patrick Manning had vetoed the appointment of deputy DPP Roger Gaspard to act as DPP, after the appointment of Carla Brown-Antoine to the High Court Bench. As one state lawyer put it, “It was going to be a silent protest, but it would have had the effect that none of the criminal courts in the High Court could have done anything.”
Gaspard received a letter yesterday morning, appointing him to act as DPP. But the letter did not state how long he would act. Brown-Antoine acted as DPP for nine months after she replaced Geoffrey Henderson, who was also elevated to the High Court. Following Gaspard’s appointment, state attorneys went to court and it was business as usual. At President’s House, Brown-Antoine, Andre Mon Desir and Ronnie Boodoosingh were sworn in by President George Maxwell Richards as full-time judges. On October 1, Gillian Lucky and Rajiv Persad will be sworn in as temporary judges. Boodoosingh was admitted to the Bar in 1992. Before entering the Hugh Wooding Law School, he received his bachelor of laws degree with second class honours from the UWI Faculty of Law at the University of the West Indies, graduating in 1990.
He was awarded the prestigious Joseph Archibald QC Award for Public International Law at UWI, and upon his graduation from the Hugh Wooding Law School, he was an awardee of the Robert Mathieu Prize for best performance in trial advocacy, and the Book Specialists Prize as most outstanding all-round student. Boodoosingh had a short stint at the office of DPP immediately upon his graduation in 1992, and returned to that office for some seven years, his last position there being a senior state prosecutor. He had been serving as a temporary judge of the High Court for the past two years. Mon Desir joined the judiciary as an acting judge last year, after serving both in private practice and with the State.
He spent the previous six years in the service of the government of the Cayman Islands, holding positions as Senior Crown Counsel (Criminal), Independent Counsel to the Governor, and Legal Counsel to the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority. Mon Desir was admitted to the Bar in 1993, having attained his bachelor of laws (second class honours) from the University of the West Indies. A national scholarship winner from St Joseph’s Convent, Port of Spain, Brown-Antoine studied law at the University of the West Indies, graduating with her LLB (second class honours) in 1987, and at the Hugh Wooding Law School where she received her Legal Education Certificate in 1989. Brown-Antoine’s entire professional career from 1989 has been with the office of DPP, beginning as a State Counsel, and rising to the position of Deputy Director in 2001, and acting on several occasions up to presently as Director.
Boss you going to charge
Boss you going to charge Manning and Hart, if not don’t take that job, I know what I telling you.
Legal Minds taking up their
Legal Minds taking up their Posts:
It is quite evident that Mr. Manning desires to control the office of the D.P.P. If he cannot manipulate the individual in charge, he finds a way to move them out. Ms. Carla Browne-Antoine is a very capable candidate for this job. She was qualified, experienced and would operate within the law; no outside influences could trickle in under her watch. Mr. Manning vetoed her appointment. But under pressure had to overturn his own veto and she was appointed for a period of 9 months as the Act. D.P.P. She has now been reassigned to the High Court as a Judge. We lost a very capable D.P.P. I am certain that Ms. Carla would have been proud to serve her country in this capacity.
Mr. Roger Gaspard was recommended to fill this position with the eixt of Carla. And here again Mr. Manning Vetoed his appointment. Chaos was literally knocking on the door, and Mr. Manning got the scent of 'danger' in the air, and a letter was forwarded to Mr. Gaspard for him to take up his assignment as Act. D.P.P., but ironic no term of employment was stated. So we have to assume that he will remain there while Mr. Manning consults with his 'masters'. Mr. Gaspard too is qualified, but by all accounts he is not a 'Yes Sir, No sir, 3 Bags full Sir' professional. So we should not be surprised to learn anytime soon that he will be reassigned, if Mr. Manning can have his own way.
Congratulations to the three professionals who were sworn in as Judges to take up their positions at our High Court:- Ms. Carla Browne-Antoine, Mr. Andre Mon Desir and Mr. Ronnie Boodoosingh. Remember you three, you will be adhering to the strict letter of the law, and will not allow any outside influences to contaminate your decisions.
And we live to see another day!
...Roger will have his hands
...Roger will have his hands full in the next little while as there's heavy stuff on the way...the day to day nature of his appointment appears to be a signal to him to tow somebody's line or else....
All he's got to do is to
All he's got to do is to play hard ball or pretend or appear to be and he'll get promoted to the High Court as a judge. That has been the trend in recent years. Cf. Moh'd, Henderson, & now Carla. Rites of passage is the new name of the game.
Acting and Temporary, TT has
Acting and Temporary, TT has a long standing civil service culture that exist to this day, of not permanently giving the person the job, Why? is it to see how he performs or is it political? and the way the service works?
No it's a new industry for
No it's a new industry for diversification of the economy in preparation for when the oil & gas run out. We are going to be the new Bollywood of the Caribbean. Mumbai better watch out, so too Holywood. The plan is to get Calder Hart & his pardners to construct one maco Academy of Actors, just like Tarouba and we will promote it through the Foreign Service Academy which they are already building next to the Diplomatic Centre. Then we'll be able to have enough jobs for the boys, and girls, in all those Foreign Missions in keeping with the 2020 vision of our great visionary. Notice we not hearing anything about the Great One in Dubai these days? Maybe next Budget after we get some revenue from property taxes, alcohol & tobacco taxes, and motoring fines. Crapaud smoke we pipe if people stop drinking and smoking and decide to behave themselves on the roads or else is another pipe dream. Last report was that all the sand castles in Dubai came crashing down. Good thing we did not open an Embassy there or we would have had to send in a SAUTT team to evacuate the staff there because they not letting anybody leave the country until and unless they settle any debts owed. Maybe we'll try Kuwait when their President finds it convenient to stopover.
Pure power madness! Manning
Pure power madness! Manning first denied and he relented and now he struts patting his back and as if intoning "what a good boy am I."
Rik Hansel
Judges have their hands full
Judges have their hands full in the coming years:
1. No 'increase in the decrease' of murders.
2. More violent robberies.
3. No let up with divorces.
4. Rapes and sex crimes, especially among children, on the rise.
5. Corporate and other white collar crimes skyrocketing.
6. Perceived political interference and attempts at controlling their independence.
7. Burgeoning kidnapping 'industry'.
8. Possible and potential in-built threats to their safety.
9. Industrial issues are spiralling.
Mr Chief Justice, your reported desire to step down into the 'madding crowd' (Thomas Hardy)to be an 'ordinary man' is laudable, but is, frankly, hardly achievable. Judges have a difficult and demanding life. The nature of the job makes you all prisoners in an increasingly taxing environment, even as you yourself are engaged in putting wrongdoers in prison.
Nevertheless, congratulations to those who are willing to make that ultimate and unselfish sacrifice to protect John and Jane Public from the 'tyranny' of the recalcitrants. The scales are tipped against you, but soldier on.
ajfyzabadbutlertown