Ruth Bowe-Darville - President of the Bahamas Bar Association says: Bahamians who suggest abandoning the Privy Council as a final court of appeal are “treading in very dangerous water.”

Bar Council chief says Privy Council still needed



JUAN McCARTNEY
NG Senior Reporter
thenassauguardian
juan@nasguard.com



President of the Bahamas Bar Association Ruth Bowe-Darville has expressed concern over recent calls for the country to move away from the Privy Council as a final court of appeal in the wake of a controversial ruling on how the death penalty should be applied.

Bowe-Darville said Bahamians who suggest abandoning the Privy Council are “treading in very dangerous water.”

“Criminally, it’s one thing. Civilly, when you’re dealing with financial matters and the economic impact of it, litigants who come before our court, they need that assurance that there is some place of last resort that is independent and seen to be independent,” said Bowe-Darville while appearing as a guest on the Star 106.5 FM program “Jeffrey” on Thursday.

“Litigants who come before us with multi-million-dollar cases and they see us as a great financial center, they need the assurance that the Privy Council is there,” she said.

Last week, the Privy Council quashed the death sentence of murder convict Maxo Tido and ruled that the gruesome murder of 16-year-old Donnell Conover in 2002 did not warrant a death sentence.

When police discovered Conover’s body, her skull was crushed and she was badly burned.
But the Privy Council, while recognizing that it was a dreadful and appalling murder, said it did not fall into the category of worst of the worst.

Tido was sentenced more than five years ago.

Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham announced in the House of Assembly on Monday that the government intends to bring a bill to Parliament before the summer recess to deal with “the question of the imposition of the death penalty in The Bahamas”.

The legislation would outline specific categories of murder.

Bowe-Darville said the government has to address the question of the death penalty through legislation, but has to be careful not to offend members of the international community.

“I think the question of the death penalty needs to be addressed. I think the country is torn by it because we’re in the throes of this crime epidemic as people have labeled it,” she said.

“People believe that the sentence of death and the implementing of the sentence is going to solve the problem — rightly or wrongly.

“The debate is wide open. Whether the passage of legislation will resolve the problem is yet to be seen, but we need to address it, not only for our own national or domestic needs, but the addressing of the death penalty issue also has international implications for us. It also has economic implications for us.”

Bowe-Darville said Bahamians must remember that the country is “a small fish in a very big pond.”

“The wider community out there with whom we interact internationally, they’re not for the death penalty and have long not been,” she said.

“We interact with them for trade; we look to them for funding. And so we have to consider those implications as well. [Certainly the prime minister] would have considered our greater good and he would consider our interaction with the wider world as well when the legislation comes forward.”

Jun 25, 2011

thenassauguardian

Caribbean Blog International

Justice Anita Allen is absolutely deserving of her promotion to President of the Court of Appeal

This Time, Every One Got it Right
The Bahama Journal Editorial



Like others who would like to be on the right side of things for as long as this is humanly possible; we say without cant or equivocation that, [and here, however this wonderful thing was done] the fact now remains that, all who had to weigh in on the decision to have Justice Anita Allen elevated to the high post of President of the Court of Appeal, have all gotten this one -- this time around-- quite right.

We too congratulate this fine jurist, who in a life-time of dedicated service has also been wife and mother – and confidante par excellence to some whose path she crossed.

We also thank her husband, the Hon. Algernon S.P.B. Allen for the part that he has clearly played –as husband and as life-long friend to his ‘Nita’.

Yet again, we insist, this good friend of ours is a jolly good fellow; and a nation-builder in his own right; and so today, we wish the Allen and Bethel families as we weigh in with deserved kudos to Senior Justice Allen on her assumption of her new post.

She is absolutely deserving of this promotion.

For her part, Justice Allen indicated that, she was humbled as well as uplifted by the outpouring of congratulations and by the confidence placed in her by the appointment.

And she stated - "I assure the Prime Minister and the people of the Bahamas who seek justice before the Court of Appeal that my colleagues and I will dispense justice in accordance with the highest judicial standards…”

And ever gracious, Justice Allen thanked her predecessor in office by noting that; "I offer my thanks to my predecessor in office, Dame Joan Sawyer who has given long service to the judiciary. I congratulate her for her efforts in cultivating the relationship between the Bahamas and the Privy Council and for enhancing the delivery of justice in the Court of Appeal through computerization and other innovations…"

As the new president also suggested, “Let me state emphatically that the collegiality and necessary interaction between the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal must be restored and nurtured. There must never be an appearance of an adversarial stance between the two courts… they must be complementary to each other while exercising separate jurisdictions."

In addition, she indicated that, "I believe the establishment of a judicial council or judicial studies abroad which has as its function the provision of judicial education is also timely and will improve the quality of justice in our Bahama land.

"We already have a cadre of judges, retired judges, registrars and magistrates who are trained at the Commonwealth Judicial Education Institute in Halifax, Canada, and who can assist in the development and implementation of judicial education programmes."

We second this motion; and yet again –as we learn from recent media reports - “New Court of Appeal President Anita Allen called her appointment to the head of the Bahamas' appellate court the "culmination and exclamation point of a lifelong love and passion for the law."

Here we can also note that, “Judge Allen, formerly a senior justice of the Supreme Court, was sworn in [this Friday past] as the new president of the Bahamas Court of Appeal at a brief ceremony at Government House attended by about 300 guests.

As Judge Allen so rightly stated – “There are defining moments in one's life, and certainly, today is one of them for me. It is the culmination and exclamation point of a lifelong love of and passion for the law…"

How very beautiful; and here we repeat for deserved emphasis, ““There are defining moments in one's life, and certainly, today is one of them for me. It is the culmination and exclamation point of a lifelong love of and passion for the law…"

And indeed, there are those defining moments in every life; where some taken do lead to a life of service; grounded in love for a nation and its people.

By the same token, there are times in life when once embarked on the wrong road – the word everywhere blares out the words, No Exit.

Evidently, the moral in the tale – as illuminated in Justice Allen’s poignant words is that, we should all take time to know better than better how the time one has been allotted will be spent.

Therefore, you must be ever so careful once this choice of path ahead confronts and begs for decision.

Anita Allen took a road that has led to the pinnacle of success in her vocation; and so today, we attest and affirm that, we are in fullest agreement with the nation’s Chief when he says that, Justice Anita Allen was "well qualified and suited to be elevated to the Court of Appeal."

Yes and of course, yes – this fine Bahamian is eminently qualified for the post that is now hers.

November 29th, 2010

The Bahama Journal Editorial

Bahamas Blog International

Sidney Stubbs, Holy Cross Member of Parliament Has Four Days To Resolve Bankruptcy Matter

Friday is a holiday, leaving Sidney Stubbs just four working days to settle his bankruptcy matter

Stubbs Has Five Days To Resolve Bankruptcy Matter

 

 

By Candia Dames

Nassau, The Bahamas

March 21, 2005

 

 

Holy Cross Member of Parliament Sidney Stubbs has reportedly started paying costs associated with his defeat in the Court of Appeal against his bankruptcy order issued by Supreme Court Justice Jeanne Thompson last year.

Mr. Stubbs is approaching the first anniversary since he was declared a bankrupt.  Meanwhile it will be one year since he took up his seat in the House of Assembly.

Wayne Munroe, who represents Mr. Stubbs’s former creditor, Gina Gonzalez, has confirmed that his team will be seeking payment from Mr. Stubbs as a result of the case arising out of the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, the Holy Cross Member of Parliament also faces an end to the deadline of March 25 granted to him after the House of Assembly approved a resolution for him to appeal the bankruptcy matter.

Mr. Munroe said on Sunday that he was not aware whether a court date had been set for the matter to return to court.

Back in January, Chief Justice Sir Burton Hall determined that under the Bankruptcy Act, Mr. Stubbs first had to settle debts with existing creditors before the order can be annulled, and that a settlement of debt with the creditor who brought the original action was not enough for an annulment.

Mr. Stubbs has argued that he has paid his debt to Ms. Gonzalez, which ought to have been enough to clear him.

If the matter is not settled before this Friday, the government would have to make a determination as to whether it would bring another resolution seeking more time for the Holy Cross MP.

It is something government officials have been trying to avoid, given the controversy the first resolution caused in the House of Assembly in September.

While some of Mr. Stubbs’s parliamentary colleagues appear confident that he would soon be able to put the matter behind him, they had been hoping that it would have been settled before the end of the six-month extension.

But that is appearing more unlikely as Friday is a holiday, leaving Mr. Stubbs just four working days to bring the matter to a close.

Government Leader in the House of Assembly Vincent Peet told The Bahama Journal last week that officials remained hopeful that there would be no need for another resolution, and indicated that that decision could not be made as long as there was still time remaining on the extension.

Some observers have pointed out that the resolution past last year is in fact ineffective given that Mr. Stubbs is not presently engaged in the process of pursuing an appeal.

A source close to Mr. Stubbs’s case claimed that ever since leaving court in January, he has been working hard to address the matter of outstanding creditors and attempting to pay off his debts.