The six-year-wait to get a judge’s notes of proceedings has left senior citizen Monica Sommerville frustrated, depressed and upset that her appeal cannot proceed against a Supreme Court ruling. Sommerville had filed a suit seeking a declaration...
The future looks very dim for Marva Forrest, who is seriously ill and who has the task of caring for her seven-year-old grandson, who is an orphan. It breaks her heart and reduces her to tears whenever he asks, “Grandma, why did my parents have to...
In spite of the fact that 62-year-old Sylvester Irving has no legs, to his 15-year-old daughter, Sabrina, he is her greatest hero and mentor. Every day she ensures that he knows this, but she intends to make Father’s Day extra special for the man...
A single mother who had to drop out of university this year in order to give her three young children the well-deserved care they need is pleading with delinquent parents to pledge during this Child Month to play significant roles in the lives of...
Former police constable Damian Davidson, who sought to be reinstated after a no-order was made in March 2018 in relation to criminal charges which involved plotting with his girlfriend for her to be kidnapped, has lost his legal battle to remain in...
Arising from the acquittal last week of three men whose murder case had been before the court for 11 years, King’s Counsel Peter Champagnie is calling for a reliable system to be put in place in instances where police officers need to take...
The three-year extension granted to Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Paula Llewellyn, KC, was gazetted on August 26, 2020, contrary to a suit filed in the Supreme Court last week by murder convict Mervin Cameron, who is contending that it was...
Esther Yvonne Sailsman, mother of the children of incarcerated former Matthews Lane strongman Donald ‘Zeeks’ Phipps, is taking steps to be the legal owner of the house he owns with his mother in Havendale, St Andrew. Sailsman has filed a claim in...
Some of the nation’s judges are lamenting the scant regard shown to them when they are to receive their benefits and entitlements. Among the issues they have to grapple with this year are the many hoops to get back pension contributions which were...
FINSAC chairman ousted because of conflict of interest A legal battle was waged in 2010 against the FINSAC Commission of Enquiry and in particular against the financial status of the then chairman. Arising from the legal challenges, retired...
Margaret Curtis is looking forward to moving on with her life for the new year, following last year’s November ruling by the Industrial Disputes Tribunal (IDT) that she was unjustifiably dismissed from her job in 2018. But that could prove to be...
A special plea is being made on humanitarian grounds for the Government to consider an ex gratia payment in the new year for 41-year-old Shahabadine Joseph Peart, who was wrongfully charged with murder, convicted and sentenced in June 2000 to hang...
The plight of British solicitor and human rights activist Hannah Harris-Barrington, who had to flee Jamaica and return to England earlier this year because of death threats, false accusations and alleged corruption in the justice system, has caught...
The Supreme Court has awarded Muriel Fraser just over $2.4 million for the death of her son, Imran Ferguson, who died as a result of injuries he received from being badly beaten in police custody in 2010. Fraser had sought $20 million as redress...
The church family and friends of a 95-year-old woman are distressed that a Supreme Court order compelling two respondents and a funeral home to release her body to the executors of her estate was disobeyed. Instead, last week Wednesday, Ann...
A defendant whose application to set aside a default judgment was thrown out earlier this month by the Supreme Court will now have to pay $16 million in damages to an elderly farmer, who was seriously injured in a motor vehicle accident in 2015....
The inhumane conditions in the island’s prisons were taken into consideration last month when Supreme Court Judge Tania Mott-Tulloch Reid ordered the State to pay $21 million in damages to Detective Constable Leonard Lindsay, who the court ruled...
The unanimous not guilty verdict in a case in which a 17-year-old schoolgirl testified that she was raped three times in one night and her head dunked in a bucket of water in an attempt to drown her has left her asking, “Where is the system of...
Erlene Melbourne was relying on a 2013 Supreme Court judgment to support her case that Jamaican Infrastructure Operator Limited (JIO) was liable under the Occupiers’ Liability Act for an accident on Highway 2000, which claimed the life of her...
The Transport Authority and its agents have come under judicial fire for “woeful dereliction” of duty for the more than five years they took to inform transport operator Marlon Parker where his minibus was being kept after it was seized in November...
Shoddy investigations by the police, coupled with lengthy delays in taking accused persons before the court after they have been arrested and charged, could cost the Government millions of dollars in damages for false imprisonment and malicious...
Attorney-at-law Isat Buchanan, who is representing incarcerated entertainer Vybz Kartel in his appeal against his murder conviction, was yesterday found guilty by the Disciplinary Committee of the General Legal Council (GLC) of professional...
Scoffing at the criticism and vitriol being spewed at attorney-at-law Tamika Harris for representing the mass murderer of a family of five in Cocoa Piece, Clarendon, in June, members of the legal profession are arguing that she should be commended...
The crime crisis Jamaica is facing has rankled some judges so much that they threw the book at a double murder convict, imposing the maximum sentence. In July, the Court of Appeal ordered that Rayon Williams must serve 45 years before being...
Puzzlement and disbelief are now swirling in legal circles about an unprecedented case of a man who was tried and convicted for murder and wounding with intent by a seven-member jury all bearing the same last name. In fact, several senior attorneys...
