Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter

Lawyers representing People's National Party candidate Harry Douglas took a legal point yesterday that Jamaica Labour Party candidate Tarn Peralto could not get an injunction against the Crown.

Peralto, who was declared the winner, is seeking to bar Director of Elections, Danville Walker, from counting the ballots in two boxes for the St. Mary South Eastern constituency.

When the hearing resumed yesterday in chambers at the Supreme Court, K.D. Knight, Q.C., and Glen Cruickshank,Q.C., argued that Walker and the reeturning officer were officers of the Crown. They said the law was clear that an injunction could not be granted against the Crown.

The lawyers have asked senior puisne judge Marva McIntosh to uphold the preliminary point they have taken and dismiss Peralto's application so that the ballots can be counted.

Time to respond

Attorney-at-law Paul Beswick, who is representing Peralto, asked for an early adjournment yesterday in order to have sufficient time to respond to the legal point.

The judge granted the adjournment until this morning.

Peralto got a seven-day injunction this month which barred Walker from counting the ballots. The injunction expired last week Friday but will remain in place until the judge makes a decision in Peralto's application to have the injunction extended.

After it was discovered that the ballots in the two boxes had not been counted, Peralto applied for an injunction. Walker had said that the two boxes had been taken along with other boxes to the Electoral Office, but there were no keys to open them. He said while waiting for the tool to cut open the locks, they proceeded to count other boxes and the two boxes were inadvertently stored with the counted boxes.

barbara.gayle@gleanerjm.com