Group of Dominican lawyers writes to ECSC Chief Justice over election petitions court matter

(From left to right) Justices Stephenson, Adrien-Roberts, Ventose

Controversy continues to brew over the assignment of a high court judge to preside over an election petitions matter filed by the United Workers Party (UWP) after the 2019 general election in Dominica.

Justice Bernie Stephenson was to have ruled on an application from the government to have the matter struck out but recused herself after Opposition leader, Lennox Linton and other members of the public questioned her impartiality as it pertains the Roosevelt Skerrit administration and called for her recusal.

A group of Dominican lawyers has written to Chief Justice, Janice Perreira, in response to a letter which Attorney General, Levi Peter, wrote to her, complaining that the recusal of Justice Bernie Stephenson in the case was the result of “surreptitious maneuvering” by the Opposition. In the letter, Peter also challenges the suitability of local judge, Justice Wynante Adrien-Roberts to preside over the elections petitions matter.

The lawyers have objected to the suggestion by Peters that Justice Adrien-Roberts would be unsuitable to preside because she “would be familiar with persons who are interested in these petitions and applications to strike”, a move they say, is not dissimilar in intent, from what he accused the opposition of doing in respect of Justice Stephenson.

“The mere fact that the local Judge was previously employed in the Public Service under the current government cannot, without more, sustain an objection to her presiding over election petitions,” the lawyers contend in their letter.

They insist that the public must not be driven to believe that the court can be manipulated by a sitting government.

“This perception would not only destroy public confidence in Justice Adrien-Roberts personally, but it would be harmful to the public in having fearlessly independent Judges who are not afraid to uphold the rule of law in the administration of public affairs,” the lawyers wrote.

The group accuses the Attorney General of by-passing the legal procedure for seeking the recusal of a Judge and attempting to intimidate the public by writing directly to the Chief Justice.

Meanwhile, two overseas-based Dominican attorneys, Earl Williams and Clement Joseph have also criticised Peter’s letter to the Chief Justice challenging Justice Adrien-Robert’s suitability to hear the case but they’ve gone further and questioned the assignment of Justice Professor Ventose, a former adviser to the Roosevelt Skerrit-led administration, to be the presiding judge.

Williams, a former UWP leader,  insists that the government should in no way try to influence the administration of the court.

“They influenced the Chief Justice by sending a letter to her telling her that they did not want Justice Wynante Adrien-Roberts whereas this St. Kitts based judge, just recently worked in the attorney general’s office in Dominica and also represented the government in a judicial review matter,” Williams complained.

He said justice must not only be done but must be seen to be done and the government’s attempt to influence the Chief Justice is not right.

“Justice Eddy Ventose needs to recuse himself immediately in this matter. He has fallen in the same category as per the letter of AG. The judge hearing this matter should be in no way aligned to the government of Dominica,” Williams insisted.

Clement Joseph, who worked in the office of the Director of Public prosecutions (DPP) in Dominica and the Turks & Caicos Islands, cites what he describes as “a clear appearance of bias” which, according to him, the court says does not have to be actual.

“Once there is a likelihood of bias, the judicial officer should withdraw themselves,” Joseph asserts. “As recent as July 31, 2018, Dr. Ventose (Professor) was working for this very attorney general (Levi Peter) and July 31 has not reached yet, less than two years later you are coming to sit in judgment again.”

He continues, “That defies legal logic, it cannot stand and he needs to have the integrity to recuse himself or the other party, the petitioners, should write to the Chief Justice and follow the precedent set before by the attorney general,” he said.

The letter to the Chief Justice from the group of Dominican lawyers is posted below.

Download (PDF, 84KB)

Copyright 2012 Dominica News Online, DURAVISION INC. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or distributed.

Disclaimer: The comments posted do not necessarily reflect the views of DominicaNewsOnline.com and its parent company or any individual staff member. All comments are posted subject to approval by DominicaNewsOnline.com. We never censor based on political or ideological points of view, but we do try to maintain a sensible balance between free speech and responsible moderating.

We will delete comments that:

  • contain any material which violates or infringes the rights of any person, are defamatory or harassing or are purely ad hominem attacks
  • a reasonable person would consider abusive or profane
  • contain material which violates or encourages others to violate any applicable law
  • promote prejudice or prejudicial hatred of any kind
  • refer to people arrested or charged with a crime as though they had been found guilty
  • contain links to "chain letters", pornographic or obscene movies or graphic images
  • are off-topic and/or excessively long

See our full comment/user policy/agreement.

15 Comments

  1. Lin Clown
    June 24, 2020

    BLOMQUIST WILLIAMS:Sunrise village was built on her estate by the UWP government at PointMilatre.
    BERNARD WILTSHIRE:A UWP candidate who promised the people of Castlebruce the CASTLEBRUCE DOLLAR if he win the election.HE LOST.
    JOSHUA FRANCIS:A UWP candidate who lost the 2019 election
    RONALD CHARLES:A UWP candidate who lost the 2014 and 2019 election.
    ……………………………………………………………….A bunch of UWP WASTE OF TIME LAWYERS,writing to the Chief Justice.Their favored Judge is a UWP supporter.

  2. June 24, 2020

    Dem UWP losers behaving like Guyanese politicians. They don’t want to accept election results. They wanna fight from Berbice all the way to Essiquibo. They love money, power, and women. If they cannot get what they want from the CCJ, they marching all the way from Port-of-Spain to Fyzabad behind their banner, “black lives matter”. lol or “black losers matter”. lol. Some of dem behave like duppy gunmen from Marigot and Salisbury, like Spaggs and Lennox. lol

  3. Bob D
    June 23, 2020

    There is a reason for all these young Dominican Professionals recusing themselves from this long standing issue, most, if not all, owe the DLP for their Elevation. Nepotism can be very cruel in a developing Poor former Slave Island, now called the Nation of Dominica, a Generation of continuous Power will surely leave its mark. We may be entering a new Phase, where speaking Truth to power will jeopardize ones standing, “A Healthy Outside, Starts From De Inside” , the Story continues.

  4. Ibo France
    June 23, 2020

    When persons of influence remain silent in the face of injustice and wicked they are wicked.

    I’m very elated that these four lawyers mustered the courage to speak out unequivocally. A courageous man dies once but a coward dies many times.

    It is corruption and the manipulation of the military, the justice system and the entire civil service, by this congenital LIAR, that presently occupies the office of the prime minister, that has Dominica languishing in rock bottom position in the OECS.

    We need more people of influence, combined with a ground swell of support from the ordinary folks, to rid the country of the present plague in office.

    • Batibou River
      June 24, 2020

      It simply isn’t good enough when 4 lawyers and a handful of opposition leader keep fighting for a FREE Dominica with opportunities for ALL. Where are all the others? Come out and show courage. Our course is just and right and in the best interest of our country. The injustice, misuse of government funds, corruption and unfair elections has to stop. These guys are destroying our country and the future of our children.

  5. Roro from mahaut
    June 23, 2020

    I see the level of debate in Dominica maturing. Whether they are UWP lawyers or DLP lawyers or DFP lawyers or APP lawyers or any other lawyer, Integrity in the Court System must prevail for everyone. We all live within the law.

    I remember Leo Austin was one of the key figures causing the fall of the Right Honorable Patrick Roland John… A good man dehumanized by the current leadership of the very DLP he nurtured in his hay day.

    If there is reasonable concerns regarding the fraudulence of any elections, it must be challenged. If an unbiased court rejects the petition so be it, and if an unbiased court accepts the petition… then justice is served. But you cannot put your friend ventose to judge because your other friend bernie recuse and at the same time you cannot say adrian not qualified when you did a correspondence law degree and she went to real law school. Give the public a break… fish head.

  6. Lol
    June 23, 2020

    Waste of time, UWP Lawyers.

    • June 23, 2020

      A bunch of UWP lawyers what else can one expect. The UWP is trying to get into office by intimidating people and institutions. They used violent protest at the last election to supress voter turn out, they physically attacked supporters of the DLP. Now they have declared all out war on the Judiciary. They intimidated Judge Stephenson forcing her to recuse herself, now Judge Ventose has now recused himself because of pressure from UWp lawyers like John Charles, Bloomquist and others who were notable silent while the character of Judge Stephenson was been tarnished on Q95 by leaders and henchmen of the UWP. It was the UWP who is attacking judges, no other political party has found fault or attacked the judiciary in such a reckless manner. The UWP IS NOW SAYING THAT THEY wills decide which judge will hear their case. Many know why Judge Wynant is not a suitable person for this assignment and it has nothing to do with any government position she previosly held.

  7. June 23, 2020

    Earl Williams of all people. When did he resurrect? They are all fighting for their own interest. Nobody wants to loose. There is no concrete reason to believe that the 2019 election was not free and fair. Dominicans flatly rejected the UWP and since then the UWP has not been able to absorb the loss with grace. I hope Earl Williams paid PJ’s wife the insurance money he owes her as well as other clients. If he has not, he should recuse himself from opening his mouth. They want to appoint their own lawyers so they can win. None of them is acting fairly. The UWP are big time losers. They just cannot comprehend. They are boom boom flies and sogo flies. They want to put their hands on that CBI money which is a dream not coming true.

  8. Political animal
    June 23, 2020

    UWP Lawyers alone that sign that petition man

  9. Nkrumah Kwame
    June 23, 2020

    Let me congratulate the lawyers who penned this letter and also affixed their signatures.
    It would have been even better if, when the purported letter from the Dominica Bar Association which was in the public domain some weeks ago, unsigned and not on the letterhead of said, that they had come out openly and stated that they were not part of the attempt to mislead the public.
    Nonetheless, I can now breathe more easily knowing that they were not part of THAT!!
    HOTEP!

    • Jonathan Y St Jean
      June 24, 2020

      Waiting for a response from biased Dominica Barr Association. How can they not say something, when there is clearly false logic in the reason presented by the Attorney General, about judge Wynant vis a via judge Ventose. The judicial system in Dominica and the OECS is at a crossroads.

  10. Batibou River
    June 23, 2020

    Right, there we go. Justice Wynante Adrien-Roberts is as far as that attorney general is concerned not suitable to hear the case. This means in simple terms, Skerrit, Astaphan and Co. failed to buy her and as a result declare her for unsuitable now. The plot thickens and soon we know WHO IS WHO. I guess that puts Skerrit in a corner… Watch this space. The world is watching.

  11. As I See it
    June 23, 2020

    This is a very strong and well written letter that makes every bit of sense and for that I highly commend the group of lawyers. I also want to commend them for standing for Dominica and our justice, at such a time as this. But that said I must also admit that Skerrit and Tony are getting this Court matter to go exactly as they wanted it to go which is to drag and delay the verdict for as long as they wish since they, especially Tony seems to have the ECSC in their wallet. Knowing that they know they are in trouble the strategy I suspect was to have Justice Stephenson to recuse herself, and blame it on UWP pressure then they would write to ECSC to take the case away from justice Robert and give it to another teammate of theirs in the person of Dr. Ventos, whom I suspect will also recuse himself as the political strategy and so that case battle could be in rowrow.

  12. Original
    June 23, 2020

    this is the type of dialogue which is needed in Dominica, healthy science based challenges. we challenge one another in order to grow and maintain the balance of power.

Post a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

:) :-D :wink: :( 8-O :lol: :-| :cry: 8) :-? :-P :-x :?: :oops: :twisted: :mrgreen: more »

 characters available