I will write the JSC opposing the DPP becoming a judge

Oct 02, 2018 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

The press has published the news that the DPP has applied to the JSC (Judicial Service Commission) to become a judge. I am of the opinion that the DPP’s performance will be an impediment to her elevation. Already a senior female magistrate has been turned down (four years ago) by the JSC.

It boggles the mind to know that this magistrate still sits on the bench. I rather suspect she takes out her setback on the hapless persons that appear in front of her. The sickening Bar Association is silent on her conduct. But that should not surprise us.

From the beginning, the appointment of the DPP was punctuated with controversy. Current Court of Appeal judge, Dr. Arif Bulkan, had submitted an application that was not considered. Mrs. Ali-Hack got the position over him. I am not going to say much about that except that Jagdeo as president has a lot of explaining to do to this nation.

My deeply held belief is that there should be a commission of inquiry into the tenure of this former president.

It is my understanding that correspondence to the JSC remains confidential so I will not divulge in this column the reasons for opposing her pursuit for an Appeal Court judgeship. I have been informed that the contents of my letter to the JSC cannot lead to a libel writ so I intend to appear in front of the JSC.

There are four issues I will raise with the JSC of which two will remain invisible in this article. One concerns what then Senior Superintendent of Police, David Ramnarine, in charge of the East Coast at the time told Dale Andrews of the Kaieteur News. The other is in relation to an incident at Vreed-en-Hoop.

The other two situations involving the DPP are public affairs and therefore can be openly discussed. The first relates to police officer, Morris Smith, who made the decision to examine the suitcases of the DPP’s husband at the airport and three CANU ranks – Manniram Persaud, Shemika Tennant, Roderick Peterkin – who were responsible for searching the suitcases at the airport of two sisters of the DPP.

All four persons were subsequently charged for drug trafficking.

In court, Tennant told the judge that the search annoyed the DPP and out of malice, she conspired to have them charge for drug trafficking. Under cross-examination from her lawyer, Nigel Hughes, Tennant told the court that her boss, Persaud, informed her that the DPP wanted her dismissed for examining her sister’s luggage.

Hughes produced a letter from Smith in which the DPP wrote the Police Commissioner requesting Smith’s dismissal for inspecting her husband’s luggage. All four officers were freed after they filed writs to have the charges dismissed.

I met Smith last year on King Street, Lacytown, and he told me he is still to receive certain benefits from the police force.

The other public drama involves two underaged Guyanese girls from Canada who were charged with conspiracy to murder their father. The father was hacked to death by the older sister’s boyfriend and his body dumped on the roadside. Canada requested that the girls be freed (they lived in Canada with their mother).

The charges were dropped and the girls transported to Canada where they are supposed to be rehabilitated.

One of Guyana’s most senior police officers who I will name in my letter to the JSC told me the investigation revealed that the girls were bad eggs who wanted to be freed from the discipline of the father. The older sister would steal the father’s money, buy drugs and smoke with her boyfriend who had a criminal sheet.

They went on a buying spree with the murdered man’s money. The police secured confessions from both girls. Somewhere along the way, an influential Canadian connection intervened under the pretext that the father was a child molester. But the police file, according to the superintendent, has no mention of that from either of the two girls.

On what basis were the charges dropped? The DPP never offered an explanation. The DPP comes from a background of swirling controversies. She may have plausible and acceptable delineations for her conduct. On the other hand, under investigation by the JSC she may not. My suggestion is that these issues be pursued by the JSC.

I don’t believe there is any sitting judge in the High Court or the Court of Appeal that were dressed in so many questions before they became judges. It is my opinion which I have a right to express and which I will defend with my life that Mrs. Hack is not judge material.

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