By INDARJIT SEURAJ
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – A failing justice system which is in a “state of emergency” is the reason why Appeal Court judge Justice Stanley John is resigning and moving on to a post at the Bahamas Court of Appeal.
John’s last day on the Court of Appeal bench will be June 30, when his resignation takes effect after he gave notice to President George Maxwell Richards last Friday.
A growing frustration with the state of the Judiciary, which boiled over last month into a scathing criticism of the Magistracy, for which he has refused to apologise, confirmed to John that he had made the right decision to step down.
“It just came at a time when I saw too many things going on,” John told Newsday yesterday.
“Our whole justice system is not going anywhere,” he said, adding, “our justice system has collapsed and we are just waiting to bury it.” He explained the justice system had flaws stemming from the Police Service straight through to the Prisons Service where cellphones and narcotics were being given to prisoners.
“And no one is doing anything about it,” he said. He was also critical of the Government for not “channelling enough resources” to remedy these shortcomings.
He hinted the Judiciary had become lazy, with too many adjournments in the various courts. “Today, the Court of Appeal gives adjournments…that could have never happened before.
“If you do not like to work that is the ideal system for you to go to work. It’s really frustrating you know.”
John, a judge with over 14 years experience, was recently at the centre of controversy when he had called for the resignations of Magistrates Jo-Anne Connor and Anna Ryan, on May 26, after he overturned the convictions and sentences they had passed on two men.
In his judgment in the magisterial appeal, John said the convictions and sentences were “excessive” and “unsafe”. He said the magistrates were not reading and did not “know the law”. He, in turn, was heavily criticised for his comments, by the Criminal Bar Association as well as the Magistrates Association, with the latter calling for an apology from John, and stating that only an apology could undo the damage his comments had done to the Magistracy.
While Chief Justice Ivor Archie disagreed with John’s statements and issued an apology to the magistrates on behalf of the Judiciary, John was adamant that he was not going to say he was sorry.
He said magistrates were not properly trained and this was part of the problem of the declining state of the Judiciary.
John, who was a close friend of former Chief Justice Satnarine Sharma, and who supported him in his impeachment case, said magistrates lacked proper writing skills and poorly assessed the evidence before them.
Just last week John and fellow Appeal Court judges Justices Paula Mae Weekes and Alice Yorke-Soo Hon overturned a sentence, conviction and fine handed down by Magistrate Margaret Alert on a fraud charge against an aesthetician saying Alert misinterpreted the evidence in the case.
And after days of speculation, yesterday he confirmed taking up the offer to sit on the Court of Appeal in Nassau, Bahamas. “Yes, I will be heading to sit on the Court of Appeal bench in the Bahamas.”
He said his challenge there would be to make an impact and positive contribution. “I just believe I am not going there to make up numbers. I am going there to make a contribution to the Bahamian jurisprudence.”
He noted that although it was a difficult decision for him to leave the local appellate court, he has no regrets for doing so.
His final message was one of hope for those who look to the Judiciary for justice. “We have our work to do here and I hope things improve for the good of society.”
