President of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Bar Association Dr Linton Lewis says he was unaware that the organization he heads, had issued a statement on the arrest of Vynnette Frederick.{{more}}
âThey could have called me and told me that they were doing this draft, but they never called me,â Lewis told SEARCHLIGHT yesterday.
âThey sent it to an email address that I never use, then after they had sent it to the press, they sent it to the correct email address.â
SEARCHLIGHT received the original Bar Association release at 3:51 pm on July 17. It was sent by Executive Committee Member Maia Eustace, who indicated she was sending it on behalf of Secretary Samantha Robertson.
Lewis said that after reading the email some time after eight on the night of July 17, he called Immediate Past President Kay Bacchus-Browne, then took to correcting âmistakesâ in the draft, which had already been sent to the media.
Lewis said that he took out the word âunlawfulâ from the document, and replaced it with the phrase âit is a pity that she was arrested without an arrest warrantâ.
He said he then sent the press release back to Bacchus-Browne.
âThe amendments I made did not include âit is unlawfulâ⦠that is not to say it was not unlawful, but I thought it was not necessary to engage in that debate in the public, so I removed that, and I indicated that it is a pity that she was arrested without an arrest warrant.
âThe problem is, you donât become confrontational for no reason at all, whether it was unlawful will be determined in the court, Vynnetteâs lawyers will deal with that, and I donât think its necessary for us to get involved in that. And now certain people will join themselves and say they werenât there.â
The word âunlawfulâ still made its way into the second version of the Bar Association Press Release, which was sent to SEARCHLIGHT from the Chambers of Kay Bacchus Browne at 11:06 am on Thursday July 18, and published in the July 19 Weekend edition.
Other changes that Lewis said he made to the original draft, include removing âpermitâ and replacing it with âdenounceâ, and taking out âillâ and replacing it with âstillâ in paragraph six.
The President of the Bar said he had given an interview on Frederickâs arrest to a reporter from the News newspaper on Wednesday, July 17, which was published in that newspaper on July 19. He noted that he never used the word âunlawfulâ in that interview.
Lewis told SEARCHLIGHT that in his view, it is unfair that there are talks that he issued a separate statement from the Bar, and is âbacking awayâ from the published statement, and persons who are aware of the truth are not speaking on his behalf.
âIn spite of all the attacks, I still held loyal to the Barâ¦. People are indicating that I have issued one statement and the Bar issued another, but my statement came to the press before I was aware that the Bar statement was sent to the press,â Lewis declared.
âItâs unfair⦠for me to be there defending [and] taking all the blows, even making all sorts of statements about changes in the Bar, and not one of them are coming forward and saying that what is being said is wrong, that I didnât know about it before it went to the press, and that my amendments were not put.
âNobody is coming forward to say that. Nobody is coming to say âlisten Dr Lewis cannot be blamed,â and I am there defending them all the time, and day after day, and not one of them is saying that it is not true, in my defence.â(JJ)