With just two days before the hearing of the elections petitions case, calls have been made for one high court judge to step aside. And amid that pressure, the judge has taken the decision to step down from the case.
Confirmed reports reaching Nature Isle News (NIN) indicted that Justice Stephenson who is in the criminal division of the court and was slated to hear the matter has recused herself.
“I can confirm to you that Justice Stephenson has recused herself formally from the matter,” an individual closely associated with the case told NIN.
Loftus Durand, the former president of the Concerned Citizens Movement has made it clear that High Court Justice Bernie Stephenson should not hear the matter in the petition case involving the Dominica Labour Party and the opposition, United Workers Party, (UWP) which is carded for Wednesday, 10th June 2020.
In a letter penned by Durand dated 4th June 2020 and addressed to the Chief Justice of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, Dame Janice Pereira, Durand calls for the appointment of another judge to hear the matter citing biasness on the part of Justice Stephenson. The letter further states that, Justice Stephenson, who has been in the jurisdiction since October of 2009, has become too engrossed and involved in the country’s affairs, thereby, rendering her incapable of delivering a fair and just judgment.
Durand’s call for the removal of Justice Stephenson from the matter has been echoed by Lennox Linton, Leader of the Opposition. Linton states that the record of Justice Stephenson has shown bias towards the Skerrit led administration over the years.
“Her record of performance in the court system of Dominica against those who have brought matters against the Roosevelt Skerrit administration over many years requires that she recuses herself from this strike out application. Bernie Stephenson cannot be fair, impartial, independent, and objective where the dispensation of justice, as it involves the UWP in Dominica is concerned,” the Leader of the Opposition opined.
Linton further contended that in the interest of justice, the matter should be heard by another judge and not Justice Stephenson, who sits in the criminal division of the court.
However, Anthony Astaphan SC, who represents the Dominica Labour Party, has rubbished the statements made by the Leader of the Opposition and says that there is no basis for the claims being made.
“He (Lennox Linton) has also not told the people of the country that when the constitutional matter concerning the riots at Salisbury prior to the elections came to court Justice Stephenson ruled in favor of Hector “Spaggs” John and the United Workers Party supporters who were charged for rioting. And we had to go to the Court of Appeal to have her judgment set aside and we succeeded. He is also not telling the people of the country when the matter came up, the Loftus Durand, before the election they applied to the Chief Justice for a judge and the judge said no since the judge here can deal with the matter.
“It went to the Court of Appeal and the Court of Appeal agreed with every single thing that the judge said. The only matter that was sent back to the court was the judicial review matter for the Dominica Broadcasting Corporation. And simply because a majority judgment has come out that overruled her matter in relation to the complaint, he is attacking the court,” Astaphan explained.