BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE appeal hearing for the contempt of court ruling against the Federation’s Attorney-General, Hon. Dr. Dennis Merchant, has been adjourned until tomorrow (Nov. 3).
The contentious case was expected to be heard this morning (Nov. 2) in the Court of Appeal, but according to Chief Justice of Appeal Hugh Rawlins the Court would not have been “properly constituted... for the hearing of any contentious matter in the appeals” today.
While it is not clear what was specifically meant by Justice Rawlins’ statements, counsel representing the Attorney-General in the matter, Sylvester Anthony, suggested that the panel of justices scheduled to hear the case was not sitting this morning.
He stated that the adjournment does not affect the anticipated timeline for his party, but he worded his hope that there would be no further delays in the matter as it is, to his team, one of great urgency.
“It is extremely important that this matter be heard because the AG has been found in contempt, he has this contempt hanging over his head and it is very important that this Court of Appeal hears the appeal and makes its determination in due course,” Anthony noted.
At the same time, in their opening statements, lawyers representing the respondent opposition People’s Action Movement (PAM) party noted that there were difficulties with the transcript of the entire case and some significant information had not been included.
“We have been asking for the transcripts of the entire case to be put before the Court of Appeal because during the arguments we need to make reference to some of the matters that went before, but what has happened is that the registry has prepared two days of transcript for July 29 and 30 and failed to prepare transcripts for the days before,” PAM lawyer Constance Mitcham told this media house.
Meanwhile, an appeal against the granting of an injunction that prohibited electoral officials from acting upon a report from the Constituency Boundaries Commission was withdrawn today by the Government.
Lead Counsel for the Government Anthony Astaphan SC explained to the Court that the withdrawal was triggered by his side’s loss in the substantive matters following an October 19 ruling in the constituency boundaries case.
“All the injunctions that were appealed were subject to the determination of the substantive matters. The injunctions have lapsed by operation of law and as a result of the effect of the ruling...the subject matter of the appeal has disappeared,” Senior Counsel Astaphan said.
In response, another lawyer representing PAM, Kamla Persad-Bissessar said there was no difficulty with withdrawing the appeals, but she added that her party will require costs to be paid, a provision Astaphan had asked the Court not to order.
Tomorrow’s hearing begins at 9:00 a.m. and is hoped to give a better idea for case management in these matters.
