BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - WORD broke Monday morning (Nov. 2) that Justice Eddy Ventose has resigned his position as Resident High Court Judge in St. Kitts and Nevis.
Sources in the legal fraternity confirmed to SKNVibes that the judge did resign his position and has since departed the twin-island Federation.
In its reportage on the development, local media entity WINN FM indicated that after resigning, the judge reportedly hopped on the Regional Security Flight and left for Barbados.
Ventose has been criticised for decisions he made in several cases against the Government; and it is said that he had recently received death threats from several social media characters.
The former Resident Judge was also asked by attorneys representing the Government to recuse himself from a high-profile case involving the Administration.
That particular incident had spurred condemnation from those in the legal fraternity, including the OECS Bar Association.
In its statement earlier this year, the OECS Bar Association said it joined with the Bar Council of St Kitts and Nevis in strongly condemning the attacks on Justice Eddy Ventose following his February 27, 2020 judgment in a matter that involved two prominent attorneys in Federation.
“We have seen in particular several Facebook posts containing both open and implied death threats and threats of violence against the Honorable Judge and even inciting violence towards him. We call upon those persons responsible to immediately cease and desist from the cowardly and defamatory attacks,” the subregional body stated.
The body had called upon the Police Force to take the threats seriously and conduct a thorough investigation into the matter.
Ventose’s time as the Resident Judge in St. Kitts and Nevis will be remembered for the changes that were made to the Constitution to treat Rastafari as a religion following his ruling in the Ras Sankofa Maccabee case.
That case spurred changes to the Marijuana Legislation in St. Kitts and Nevis and had ripple effects across the region.
More on this story in a subsequent article.
