BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – FOLLOWING the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Commissioner of Police and the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), police prosecutors are now under the purview of the DPP’s Office.
This pronouncement was made by the Attorney General (AG) and Minister of Justice and Legal Affairs, Hon. Patrice Nisbett, at the launching of the National Prosecution Office and introduction of the Prosecution Code held last Wednesday (Mar. 21) at the Ocean Terrace Inn.
It was announced that the National Prosecution Office has been in effect since January this year, and it was founded on the principles of high qualities, good judgment, complete integrity, an innate sense of fair play, an instinctive sense of what is right and wrong, and fearlessness.
In an exclusive interview with SKNVibes, the AG, in his explanation of the Office’s role and the proceedings that led to its establishment, said the genesis for the idea came from the Ministry of Justice and Legal Affairs.
“When I became the Attorney General of St. Kitts and Nevis, we carried out an assessment of the various departments in the different ministries which are under my superintend; and after the analysis was conducted a decision was taken that we really take a closer look at how prosecution is done in St. Kitts and Nevis across the criminal justice system.
“We decided at that point in time that it was time we formed a National Prosecution Service and, this service, what is envisioned, is that we will bring all of our prosecutors under the direct control of the Director of Public Prosecutions.”
The AG noted that as a result of doing so, police prosecutors would be able to benefit from the experience, advice, direction and guidance of the DPP in regards to the presentation of their cases as well as making decisions as to whether a particular prosecution is justified in the public’s interest.
“The status quo was that the police prosecutors were under the command of the Chief of Police while those in the DPP’s office were under the command of the Director of Public Prosecutions. And we felt that this was a very unhappy arrangement in light of the way how modern democracies operate when it comes to the conduct of prosecutions.
“We think that we must move towards the new era where our prosecutors are independent of the investigator so at one point in time the police were the investigators and at the same time they were also involved in the prosecution, and the international standard dictates that that is not the desirable thing now,” he explained.
He stated that his ministry had sought to move in what is aligned with the international standards in terms of separating the prosecution function from the investigating function, noting that at the same time both the police prosecutors and that DPP would be working very closely to ensure that they build the best possible cases for prosecution.
Noting the conditions under which the police prosecutor were relocated, Nisbett said, “There is in fact a Memorandum of Understanding which is signed by both the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Chief of Police, which outlines the conditions and terms under which those prosecutors were transferred to the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.”
He said that the Prosecution Code was developed as a guide to assist prosecutors with their decision-making as well as what considerations must be taken when dealing with specific cases.
“The Prosecution Code is a document that was developed with the assistance of the British High Commission and the Eastern Caribbean Judicial Advisor, Daniel Suter. And this was developed so as to guide prosecutors in their decision-making process as to whether a particular set of circumstances or a particular case justifies a prosecution. So, we have an elaborate document outlining the various factors that a prosecutor must take into consideration when one is dealing with a particular matter in the criminal justice system."
Nisbett enunciated that the Code guides the prosecutors on how to deal with situations involving young offenders, sentencing and charging among a host of others.
Among those present at the launch were Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. Dr. Denzil Doulgas, His Lordship Justice Errol Thomas, Chief Magistrate Josephine Mallalieu-Webbe, Deputy High Commissioner at the British High Commission Phillip Culligan and Commissioner of Police Celvin 'CG' Walwyn.
