The court matter involving three individuals and 15 elected MPs of the Dominica Labour Party (DLP) following the 2014 General Elections in Dominica is set for another round of legal battle.
Following the 2014 General Elections in which the Dominica Labour Party won 15 seats to the United Workers Party (UWP) 6 seats, Antoine Defoe, Mervin John Baptiste, and Edingcot St. Valle took the 15 victorious DLP MP’s to court on the basis of treating.
In the first round at the high court, the judge quashed the criminal complaints of the trio which prompted an appeal to the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (ECSC).
Just last week, the ECSC, in a majority decision of two to one, sent the matter back to the high court, thereby, handing a victory to the complainants.
Immediately, Anthony Astaphan SC, lead attorney for the DLP expressed shock at the decision and signaled his intention to appeal the ruling.
Upon hearing the decision of the ECSC he had this to say, “I have to tell you that I am extremely surprised at the judgment…but I haven’t yet read it. But my initial reaction to the Prime Minister is that we must expedite an appeal to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) as soon as possible because there was a dissenting judgment from Madame Justice Blenman.
The decision to take the matter to the island’s highest court was confirmed by Astaphan.
“A decision has been made to appeal the decision to the Caribbean Court of Justice. The documents are being drafted. By Wednesday (June 3, 2020) the application to the Court of Appeal will be filed. Our team has had a chance to look at the majority judgment. We think that they have got it terribly wrong. We think that the judgment of the dissenting judge, the most senior member of the bench at that time, Madam Justice Blenman, is absolutely 100% correct.
“And because of the great public interest in ensuring which is the relevant and applicable law for the determination of these matters and to avoid any sort of uncertainty and any sort of ambush where politicians can lose an election and go and file a petition then wait several weeks and months to file cases in the magistrate court, for matters that occur before the election, justice and the public interest demand that this matter be dealt with by the Caribbean Court of Justice(CCJ) at the highest level,” Astaphan reasoned.
According to Astaphan, who has represented several politicians in Dominica and in other Caribbean islands, he is hoping that the matter can be dealt with in short order and it would be unwise not to seek redress.
“So I can safely tell you that the application will be filed and we are going to be asking the court to treat it with urgency and to grant a stay of proceedings pending the application and hearing of the appeal before the CCJ.
“It would be, I think, imprudent or reckless for any lawyer representing any political party in elections to allow that to stand. If the CCJ rules one way or the other then so be it. The majority judgment and based on the content of their judgment should not be allowed to stand or at least should not be allowed to stand without further scrutiny by the highest appellate court for the commonwealth of Dominica,” he remarked.