A decision in the 2014 Treating Election case is expected to be handed down early in 2021 after judges of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) listened to lawyers of the respondents Cara Shillingford and Wayne Marsh and Anthony Astaphan SC for the appellants.
After listening to over three hours of legal arguments from both sides and asking some probing questions, the judges said that they have reserved their decision in the matter.
Mervin John Baptiste, Antoine Defoe, and Edincot St. Valle filed complaints against all 15 elected candidates of the Dominica Labour Party (DLP) after the 2014 general election claiming they were involved in “treating” leading up to the election; which the DLP won 15-6 against the United Workers Party (UWP).
The complainants cited two concerts put on by the DLP, featuring international acts, Donnie McClurkin and Morgan Heritage, as acts of treating meant to corruptly influence the outcome of the election.
The high court ruled that the magistrate did not have jurisdiction to hear the matter but in a 2-1 majority decision, the ECSC dismissed the high court’s decision and remitted the matter back to the high court saying it had jurisdiction to hear the matter.
In his submissions, Anthony Astaphan SC “We stand by our submissions…and the decision of Justice of Appeal Blenman is the correct decision.”
Justice of Appeal Louise Esther Blenman in her dissenting decision said she was “unable to agree with the decision of her Brothers Justice of Appeal Mario Michel, and Paul Webster.
”I have had the benefit of reading, in draft, the judgment of my learned brother Webster JA [Ag.], with which my learned brother Michel JA has concurred, and I am unable to agree with his reasoning and conclusion”.
Astaphan told the court that the two appeal judges did not follow the proper ruling. “It will make a mockery of government to have an entire Cabinet march to the magistrates court for a summary matter and if convicted then go to a higher court,” he said. That he said will be “disruptive and cause chaos to a government.”
He urged the court to dismiss the matter and uphold the decision of the high court.
In her arguments, Cara Shillingford told the Judges that “elected politicians are not above the law.”
“The rule of law requires everyone to be treated the same, I welcome electoral reform in Dominica and so also is the people of Dominica,” she said. She told the court the respondents decided to use one of the processes available to them under the law and has in “no way abused the process of the court.”
“The law is the law, it was utilized, the judiciary cannot change the law, it is a function of Parliament,” she stated.
She urged the judges to uphold the 2-1 majority decision of the ECSC and remit the matter to the magistrate’s court for trial.