Appeal Court: No arguable grounds for a review

BASELESS!

The policewoman who accused Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves of raping her has lost another round in court.{{more}}

Her quest to make him answer to her claim was dealt another decisive blow by a ruling by the Organization of East Caribbean States (OECS) Court of Appeal last Monday.

The Court of Appeal upheld the March 11, 2008, decision by High Court Judge Justice Gertel Thom, who refused to grant leave to the policewoman to seek judicial review of the decision of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Colin Williams to take over and discontinue the private criminal cases she brought against Dr Gonsalves.

In her judgement, Justice Thom found “no arguable grounds for a review.”

Back then, Kay Bacchus-Browne, one member of the four-pronged legal team representing the woman, was “very confident” as they prepared to appeal Justice Thom’s ruling.

“There are at least 20 grounds for appeal,” Bacchus-Browne told SEARCHLIGHT in March.

But after the Justices of the Court of Appeal considered the facts, the constitutional powers of the DPP, his decision to discontinue the case, and the real prospect of success of the substantive appeal, they determined that Justice Thom’s ruling should stand.

“Based on the law and the findings of the learned trial judge, this court can see no ‘real prospect’ for success of the appeal against the trial judge’s decision to refuse the application for leave for judicial review of the decision of the Director of Public prosecution,” the judgement states.

The court also struck out the argument that DPP Williams may have acted in bad faith due to his close relationship with Dr Gonsalves.

“In the absence of strong and compelling evidence of political interference, or that the Director of Public Prosecutions acted dishonestly, fraudulently or corruptly, then the presumption is that the Director of Public Prosecutions acted independently and impartially,” the court said.

The Court also ruled that there was no other compelling reason why leave should be granted.

“…there is no area of the law applicable to this application which has not been fully aired and I cannot help but conclude that the learned trial judge took into consideration and did address her mind to all the relevant issues before arriving at her decision in dismissing the applicant’s application for leave to apply for judicial review,” the 18-page judgement states.

With regard to the argument that the applicant felt that she had not been dealt with justly, The Court ruled that the officer could only have felt this way if she had “complied with the request of the Commissioner of Police and the Director of Public Prosecution to provide her statement and other evidence to support her accusation.”

The policewoman, then 33, claims that on January 3 2008, while she was on duty at the Prime Minister’s residence in Old Montrose, he sexually assaulted and raped her.

On January 31, the policewoman brought private criminal charges against the Prime Minister. He was due to appear at the Serious Offences Court on February 22 to answer to them.

Then on February 4, DPP Williams stepped in and discontinued the cases, saying that his action was in the best interest of justice, given that police investigations did not reveal any wrong doing on the part of Dr Gonsalves.

The officer’s lawyers (Emery Robertson, Nicole Sylvester, Sharon Morris- Cummings and Kay Bacchus-Browne) sought leave for judicial review of DPP Williams’ decision. These were shot down by Justice Thom’s March 4 ruling.

Dr Gonsalves has stoutly denied any wrong doing, and his lawyer, the well-known Dominican attorney Anthony Astaphan SC earlier this week said that the case was an attempt to score political points, and vowed to look into it, with a view to taking legal action.

When SEARCHLIGHT contacted Kay Bacchus-Browne on the heels of the judgement, she said that she was still to review it, and along with the rest of the officer’s legal team, will make a statement of intent in due course.

The judgment was delivered in Grenada by Justices Tyrone Chong QC, Dane Hamilton QC, and Denys Barrow SC.