Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter

DESPITE THE huge backlog of cases, the courts disposed of many interesting cases during the year and judgements have been reserved in some cases for which the public is anxiously awaiting the results.

Dabdoub vs Vaz

One of the cases which generated great public interest during 2008 was the dual citizenship case which People's National Party candidate Abe Dabdoub brought against Jamaica Labour Party Member of Parliament Daryl Vaz.

Dabdoub contended in the election petition that Vaz was an American citizen, and had an American passport on which he travelled even after he was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for West Portland. Dabdoub said, by virtue of Vaz being an American citizen, he was not eligible to be a MP because that was in breach of the Jamaican Constitution. Vaz was declared winner in the general elections in September last year.

Dabdoub had sought to be returned as the duly elected MP, but the chief justice ousted Vaz from Parliament and ordered a by election in the constituency.

Dabdoub is contending that the chief justice erred in her ruling and has taken the issue to the Court of Appeal.

Legal submissions were made in the appeal and the Court of Appeal is to give its decision early next year. Vaz remains MP as the court has given him a stay of execution pending the outcome of the appeal. He renounced his American citizenship following the chief justice's ruling in April.

President of the Court of Appeal Mr Justice Seymour Panton, Mr Justice Algernon Smith and Mr Justice Karl Harrison heard the appeal.

Chief Justice Zaila McCalla heard the matter and in May ruled that although Vaz inherited American citizenship through his mother who was an American citizen, Vaz had obtained a passport and travelled on it.

Vaz also appealed against the chief justice's ruling contending that he did not obtain his American citizenship by his own act, but through his mother who was an American.

Three other cases involving dual citizenship brought by People's National Party candidates against Jamaica Labour Party members of Parliament are pending in the Supreme Court.

Brutal slaying

Another case which was closely followed was the murder case of 35-year-old security guard Jeffrey Perry, who went on trial in the Home Circuit Court in November 2008 for the brutal slaying of three children at Killancholly, St Mary in January 2005.

The jury took only 50 minutes to return the verdict which some lawyers said was a relatively short time for case in which a person was charged with triple murder.

Perry, who has been in custody since he was arrested in 2005, was further remanded for sentencing in the Home Circuit Court on December January 8. The court is awaiting a social enquiry report, which was ordered for him.

The case had to be transferred from St Mary to Kingston because it was felt Perry would not get a fair trial because of the reaction of some of the citizens to the brutal slaying of the children.

Perry is reported to be no newcomer to the court system because several years ago he was charged with murder, but was freed because of insufficient evidence.

Sonia Bailey-Williams, mother of the three children and cousin of Perry, who is also called Greg, attended court daily. She was at church the night when Perry stabbed the children and she was the one who made the gruesome find.

Questioned by The Sunday Gleaner as to how she felt about the outcome of the case, she said she was happy that Perry was found guilty of murder and not manslaughter. She said she was suffering from stress and was still having sleepless nights because of the brutal death of her three children.

Bailey Williams said she was glad the trial was over because sitting in court and hearing the evidence was very traumatic for her.

Prosecutors Lisa Palmer Hamilton and Melissa Simms led evidence that the three children, 13-year-old Sue Ann Gordon, 15-year-old Dwane Davidson and four-year-old Shadice Williams were fatally stabbed between January 27 and January 28, 2005. The children's throats were also slashed.

There was no eyewitness to the triple murder, but the Crown relied on Perry's caution statement to prove its case against him. Perry had said in a caution statement to the police on February 8, 2005 that a voice told him to kill and he stabbed the children and buried the murder weapon. He took the police to the spot where the knife was buried in Killancholly.

When Perry took the decision to give a caution statement, Deputy Superintendent Robert Whyte and Detective Inspector Michael Garrick asked attorney-at-law Christopher Hibbert to advise Perry of his legal rights. Hibbert testified that he advised Perry of his legal rights and also witnessed the caution statement.

Senior Puisne Judge Marva McIntosh, who presided at the trial which began on November 17, had asked the jury to consider diminished responsibility based on the evidence given by psychiatrist Dr Terrence Bernard and psychologist Dr Kai Morgan who were called by the Crown.

The doctors said they conducted tests on Perry in 2008 and found that he was suffering from a personality disorder, but they both said Perry knew right from wrong.

If the jurors had found that Perry had diminished responsibility it would have resulted in Perry being found guilty of manslaughter, the lesser charge.

Perry who was represented by defence lawyer Linton Walters chose not to say anything in his defence.

Perry told the court that because he could not read his prepared speech from the witness box he would remain silent.

Trafficking-in-persons cases

Jamaica's first trafficking-in-persons case ended in prison terms this year for the two men who were charged with the offence.

They were 55-year-old woodcrafter Agon Stephens and 57-year-old businessman Narcot Graham, both of Kingston addresses, who pleaded to conspiracy to get a 14-year-old girl involved in prostitution. They were charged with trafficking in persons, but pleaded guilty to the lesser offence.

Supreme Court Judge Horace Marsh in sentencing them, stressed that the offence was very serious.

"How would you feel if your daughter was the complainant?" the judge asked the men, who said they were the fathers of several children, including daughters.

Lisa Palmer, senior deputy director of public prosecutions, in outlining the facts of the case, said in May 2006, Graham and Stephens made plans to get the girl involved in prostitution.

The men approached an investigator from New Zealand who was in the island to conduct research into sexual exploitation and trafficking of women and children.

They told the man that they could get a young girl for him to have sexual intercourse with, but he would have to pay them US$400 ($32,000).

The money was paid to the men and the investigator reported the matter to the police. A sting operation was set up, and on May 24, 2006, when the men turned up with the girl in the New Kingston area, the police swooped down, arrested and charged them.

They were found with the US$400 in their possession.

Defence lawyers Lloyd McFarlane and Lynden Wellesley pleaded with the judge not to send the men to prison.

The lawyers pointed out that the men had spent nine months in custody before they were granted bail. The judge said he took into account the fact that the men had pleaded guilty, but insisted that they had to spend time in prison.

The second trafficking-in-persons case allegedly involved former church deacon 48-year-old Donovan Jones. The case involves a 14-year-old schoolgirl and a trial date was set last month for Jones to face trial in the Home Circuit Court on April 15 last year.

Three male teenagers were charged jointly with Jones, but their case was disposed of in early 2008. They pleaded guilty in July 2008 to indecent assault. Two of them were placed on probation, while the third was admonished and discharged.

The Crown is alleging that Jones was present in a motor car when the the girl was fondled in April and May 2006 and someone video-recorded the events. Jones resigned from his position as a deacon after he was arrested and charged.

Drop criminal charges

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) will have to drop criminal charges against four persons including two former directors of the collapsed Dyoll Insurance Company Ltd following a ruling in December 2008 by the Constitutional Court.The court found that at the time when the alleged offences were committed the provisions of the Financial Services Commission Act relating to the insurance industry were not in effect.

The provisions of the act relating to the insurance industry came into effect in March 2005. The offences were allegedly committed between December 2004 and January 2005.The lawyers representing the applicants argued that the part of the FSC Act relating to the insurance industry brought into effect in March 2005 could not have a retroactive effect as it would breach section 20(7) of the Constitution by making the alleged crimes retroactive.

The court upheld the arguments and granted several declarations.Former director and chief executive officer, 48-year-old Mark Thwaites, and former chairman James Morrison who were charged with breaches of the Insurance Act, had filed a constitutional motion seeking to have the charges dropped.

Catherine Parke-Thwaites, wife of Mark Thwaites, and Debbie Hyde were also charged, and also challenged the act. Winston Spaulding, QC, and attorneys-at-law Garth McBean, Jacqueline Samuels-Brown, Patrick Atkinson and Deborah Martin, who represented the applicants, had asked the court to rule that, under the Constitution, a law cannot be passed to make criminal charges retroactive.

The DPP and the attorney-general were the respondents.

Attorney-at-law Richard Small who represented the DPP applied for a stay of execution of the court order to determine whether there was going to be an appeal.

The Constitutional Court comprising Chief Justice Zaila McCalla, Senior Puisne Judge Marva McIntosh and Mr Justice Lloyd Hibbert granted a stay until January 29.

Samuels-Brown had questioned whether the applicants would have to return to the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court, but the chief justice indicated that they would have to return to that court because the court had extended their bail until March 2009. The chief justice pointed out that the DPP was bound to abide by the ruling of the court.

Five extradited

St Ann businessman Norris 'Deedo'' Nembhard and four other Jamaican men were flown out of the island in 2008 to the USA where they will face charges for conspiracy to export cocaine.

The men lost their legal battle in the Court of Appeal in July against their extradition orders.

Nembhard, 52, Police Corporal Herbert Henry, Robroy Williams, also called 'Spy', Glenford Williams and Vivian Dalley were extradited to the USA to face trial.

The offences are alleged to have taken place between 1998 to 2004.

Privy Council to rule on Janice Allen

The appeal against a Court of Appeal ruling in the Janice Allen case was heard by the the United Kingdom Privy Council on December 1 and judgement has been reserved in the case.

The Privy Council was asked to determine whether the Jamaican court was correct when it refused leave to go to the Judicial Review Court for an order to quash a jury's verdict.

Millicent Forbes, the mother of 13-year-old Janice Allen, who is being assisted by the lobby group Jamaicans for Justice is the appellant.

Allen was shot dead at her gate at Trench Town, West Kingston, on April 18, 2000. The police reported that she was shot during a shoot-out with gunmen.

Constable Rohan Allen (no relation) was charged with murder, but was freed in March 2004 after a jury was directed to return a formal verdict of not guilty.

The acquittal was based on false information that a policeman who was a vital witness in the case was off the island and was not returning.