Senior Counsel Anthony Astaphan, the lead attorney representing St Vincent and the Grenadines government in the vaccine mandate case, has confirmed that Ralph Gonsalves will be appealing the last court ruling.
On Monday, the High Court in St Vincent and the Grenadines ruled in favor of nine employees who claimed they were wrongfully dismissed by the government when they refused to get vaccinated.
The workers were represented by Dominican attorney Cara Shillingford-Marsh.
In her judgment, Justice Henry further ruled that letters issued to the claimants, including letters issued by St. Vincent and the Grenadines Community College, violated the Constitution.
The judge also said that none of the claimants ceased to hold the public offices to which they had been appointed and held at the relevant times, and they remain entitled to all of their full pay and benefits due and payable to them, including pensions.
But Astaphan said his team has an obligation to review the reason by the judge and to advise the government whether there is any merit to an appeal.
“We have advised the government that we believe there is considerable merit in an appeal. We have also advised them that in the public interest, an appeal is required for the very simple reason that the government needs to know and have the guidance of a higher court on what should be done when a government is confronted with a crisis and an infectious disease that kills and hospitalized citizens,” he said,
During the pandemic, the Ralph Gonzalves government fired more than 300 public sector workers over their failure to take a COVID-19 vaccine, as mandated by Cabinet. However, in handing down the decision, High Court Judge Justice Esco Henry said the legislation by the government was unconstitutional.
Six individuals: primary-school teachers Shanile Howe and Novita Roberts; Cavet Thomas, a senior customs officer; Alfonzo Lyttle, an assistant supervisor employed with the Customs and Excise Department; Brenton Smith, a station sergeant of police and Sylvorne Olliver, a corporal of police, brought the lawsuit against the government.
It is difficult to see how any court can justify dismissing people for not taking a vaccine that the manufacturers have specifically said does not prevent infection and the disease it is supposed to protect from has a test that is 99.9% unreliable.
We all know that the vaccine was the disease and is a depopulation program. May the governments of the Caribbean nations (all of them) that participated in this genocide rot in hell for their sins.
St. Anthony, the patron saint of lost causes.
I have been saying for a while now, all of all you that do caribbean people that wickedness dere will be held accountable! All you will not get away with it!
This is just the start!
Tony Astaphan you need to shut your entitled slave master minded a** and allow the people to start getting justice for the extreme injustice imposed on them by their colonial supervisors who pose under the guise of ‘Prime Ministers/Caribbean leaders’!
Tony has been depleting the coffers of these corrupt Labour governments throughout the OECS for umpteen of years. While he has made a fortune from indirectly tax payers, these same people are becoming desperately penniless. When will they learn?
This is no surprise to all who knows you. Your brittle ego would not allow to accept defeat knowing that it was inflicted by a strong, intelligent, young, black woman.
You, Tony, will meet the same fate in the appeal court. This appeal benefits you. It means more hundreds of thousands of dollars on your fat bank account at the expense of the dirt poor Vincentian tax payers.
Those ‘darkers’ you are sporting cannot hide the egg on your face.
Hot topic for the media whore on q95.Waiting to hear from the UWP supporters of the rising star.Cara has never won a case all the way to the CCJ or Privy Council.Rising star my A.What is Cara record in terms of wins and losses in court?
Tell ralfie to pay up.. .
More civil servants should be suing his behind, but I guess it’s too late now… hooray for Clara….
“We have also advised them that in the public interest, an appeal is required for the very simple reason that the government needs to know and have the guidance of a higher court on what should be done when a government is confronted with a crisis and an infectious disease that kills and hospitalized citizens”
This is such a stupid statement considering what everyone knows now and what the “conspiracy theorists” knew from day one. The “vaccine” DOES NOT stop the spread of the virus. That is pretty much a fact at this point.
So there is no justification “in the public interest” for such a mandate. That stupid argument is based on the idea that by being vaccinated they prevent the spread to other people. Since we know that is not true then the “vaccine” is an issue of personal responsibility as to who wants to protect their own self, supposedly since it seems like vaccinated people are suffering with the virus now more than unvaccinated people.
It does merit an appeal. In my workplace in America if you did not get vaccinated you were liable to lose your job. Covid19 was spreading like wildfire and the Governments at the time had that duty to ensure that their citizens including those who work in the public sector were safe and well protected against the disease. Thousands were dying daily in America and had regretted on their dying bed that they did not take the shots which would have saved their lives. Even in America where the health system and medicine are second to none, the American Government urged its citizens including the ones working in the public sector to get vaccinated or run the risk of loosing their life and their job. The education system in England was never second to none. That was just a myth back in those days. The American education system is the one that is second to none. Case in point: How many astronauts has England ever sent to the moon and space? None. Case closed.
Ds, correction if I may say so : A total of four British astronauts have gone to space, in a matter of fact the UK plays a big part with the European space agency sending men and women into space. Having said that I agree with some of the comments you made 👍🏽
It is the very first time I read something slightly sensible that you wrote!
And indeed Dog Sh.. lots of people here lost their jobs because they refused to get vaccinated even now that the virus is somewhat contained, those of us who are vaccinated do get a card wallet size with the dates we got vaccinated and name of the type, and boosters,
So, for instance one has to visit their doctor they must present that cars proving they are vaccinated, and the proof will be recorded in your chart.
In this case the interest of the public must take precedence over personal interest.
I meant present ( show)the card, not cars.
Tony, take as many millions of dollars you can get out of Gonsalez, but I think he has already lost the battle and the war!
This woman Cara is undoubtedly a modern-day attorney. Take a look at her record, you will find she has more successes than failures.
Since she prevailed in this matter, a precedence is set; that means the court in St. Vincent determines that the legislative act or law conflicts with the constitution, and therefor finds Gonazlez firing of the workers to be unconstitutional, hence the court had to declare the law they may have used in their actions to be void in whole or in part!
And I can add null and void!
Hahahahahahahahahahahah!
They can appeal if they wish the result will be the same!
Wrong. The result will be different on appeal. I am very optimistic and upbeat. I know you will have a lot to say when the result does not skew your way.
Wrong it is not a precedent. It is very much a victory for the applicants. However the matter will likely go to the Court of Appeal and ultimately to the Caribbean Court Of Justice(CCJ). Judgments from CCJ is where precedents are attached.