NICHOLSON

Two law groups and a public affairs association have strongly criticised Minister of Justice and Attorney-General A.J. Nicholson for comments he made in respect of Justice Almarie Sinclair Haynes.

In statements issued yesterday, they called on the minister to apologise to the judge.

The judge, who is presiding in the Westmoreland Circuit Court, was turned away from a hotel in Negril on Sunday night because the Ministry of Justice had not made proper arrangements for her accommodation. The judge commented on the situation when she went to court on Monday.

On Tuesday, the minister issued a statement castigating the judge.

The Jamaican Bar Association (JBA) said it viewed with consternation the posture of the minister "in relation to what appears to have been cavalier treatment of a judge of the Supreme Court by the ministry responsible for ensuring the safe accommodation of judges while on circuit".

Apparent disregard

"Even more troubling is the apparent disregard for the need to ensure that the independence of the judiciary is maintained and held sacrosanct. In this regard, we endorse wholeheartedly the statement issued by the Independent Jamaican Council for Human Rights.

The JBA said further that one would have expected, at the very least, an unconditional apology by the ministry to the judge for having caused her to be subjected to the indignity which she clearly suffered instead of an "undignified and unmerited harangue in the media".

The Advocates' Association of Jamaica (AAJ) said: "It is interesting that the minister found it necessary and appropriate to suggest that the learned judge was somehow at fault for the sloppy inefficiency of his ministry, which caused her to arrive at the hotel late in the night to find that no arrangements were made for her."

"Even if the minister thought the judge could have been more patient, bearing in mind the very embarrassing situation into which the judge was thrust, the tenor of his response was inappropriate," the AAJ said.

According to the Farquharson Institute of Public Affairs, "the most recent statement, attributed to the Minister of Justice commenting adversely against a Supreme Court Judge, illustrates a tendency by the executive arm of Government to interfere with the Judiciary by subtle castigation, which can also be interpreted as a latent form of intimidation."