News reaching BU indicates that Commissioner Darwin Dottin has been sent on administrative leave. Given the recent development that a Deputy Commissioner was being selected without the input from Dottin provided a clue that sanction against Dottin was in the offing. A few weeks ago we also learned that Dottin had to return from vacation…
News reaching BU indicates that Commissioner Darwin Dottin has been sent on administrative leave. Given the recent development that a Deputy Commissioner was being selected without the input from Dottin provided a clue that sanction against Dottin was in the offing. A few weeks ago we also learned that Dottin had to return from vacation because his recommendation of the person to act while he was on leave was declined by the Public Service Commission.
Stay tuned!
Mr. Carl Moore
One of your journalists wrote a story about me in the Nation that was not true.
Colonel Buggy
“Will the Prisons Chief’s head be next on the head cracking block?”
You now hit the nail right on its head. He is a Joke. A whole prison burned down on his watch and he still kept his job.
What does he have in common with the former COP?
The same woman brought him. Pitch fork him over qualified Prison Officers.
I’m back. Had a good lunch with vegetables grown outside my kitchen window. Folks, we must grow our own food! Good advice from the late Carmeta Fraser.
David, you wouldn’t even compliment me earlier today for flushing out my first anony-mouse, Georgie Porgie. You know how long I’ve been trying to get him out of his hole? Before he started shouting in ALL CAPS, he revealed—very quietly—that his real name is “dr ls wiltshire”. You must’ve missed it because it was written in tiny all lowercase letters. Then he crawled right back into his hole—he’s more comfortable and safe there.
Anyhow, we now know that Georgie Porgie is “dr ls wiltshire”, the Barbados Scholar who didn’t worry too much about learning English, but still won the scholarship in Science. In my time that simply couldn’t happen. You can’t construct a simple sentence where subject agrees with verb and expect to win any kind of scholarship?
I will bet you now that we know that “dr ls wiltshire” is a regular contributor to this website you will see a marked improvement in the words he uses. That’s always been my point: you are more likely to behave yourself when people know who you are.
There is a place for anonymity, yes; but it has allowed too much reckless behaviour on this blog.
During my break I looked in the telephone directory but didn’t find the good doctor’s name. Maybe, since he prefers to be an anonymous blogger he might wish to be also an anonymous physician.
Next time I visit Harrison College, Combermere, the Lodge, and Foundation—we can’t leave out Peter Wickham’s alma mater; it’s the greatest—I’ll look at the boards in the hall for this “dr ls wiltshire”.
I doubt he is one of those brilliant Wiltshire boys from Hindsbury Road back in the Fifties: none of them would come on this blog and relieve himself of such unexpurgated tosh.
So I consider that I have put in a good day’s work. From today on Georgie Porgie is “dr ls wiltshire”—all common letters, please—the Barbados Scholar. Respect this gentleman and give him his title. And give him a little time to brush up on his English and his French.
Hal, next time you’re in Barbados I’ll show you our vegetable garden in the back. There are enough flowers up front. We can’t eat crotons and marigolds.
Carl Mo….give it a rest nah! Shiite man ya like broken record.
LOL @ Ossie Moore #2
…now we see why you want names….so that you can snoop around for dirt and pimp to see who is related to who…
…and this from Ossie Moore’s little nephew…. LOL Ha Ha Oh shite
Listen Ossie, we know who GP was for YEARS now. He said so years ago… But no one here (before you) cares…. He is GP the brilliant CAPS Doc.
You, on the other hand, are one big piece of shite…. Hope Islandgal can get the chance to better describe you sometime….
BTW….
When you get around to checking your esteemed family tree – check for Bushie and see if David Commissiong is on one of the branches…. He MUST be related to Ossie too…the lotta shiite he does talk from time to time…
LOL
Some people does make even brass bowls seem attractive….
Onions, you itching to get back to your bad behaviour. Take it easy,man; I will soon go. How much of this foolishness you think I can take?
@Carl Moore
GP has advised his name on BU before.
Amazing how easily we get distracted from REAL issues. Enough already.
Moore … Miller din had to say nuttin’ nider. Wah every sam pooch and duppy ’bout hey know who most of these people is …
David I miss Boney Peppa … I see Islandgirl as a future prospect … HA HA
@Baffy. I miss Bonny Peppah too.
@ Caswell
Just by the way, How much this sending home Com. Dottin gine cost we?
I hear D man still got a good 4 years more before retirement…..This sound like a Jeff Broome golden hand shake all ova again….Can we the tax payers afford it in today’s climate?…Can’t high level Civil servants not be transferred and save us a pound n crown?
@ Onions
There is such a thing as penny wise and pound foolish.
If we had paid him even five million dollars ’bout 10 years ago and appointed a competent COP do you have ANY idea of what that would have saved this country in terms of the loss of VALUABLE people who resigned from the force; in terms of market value for tourism; in terms of tourism image as a crime free place?
What would be ideal would be a law to force which ever idiot put him in the position to have to foot half of the bill of getting rid of him….
That way those who make appointments would think twice before appointing kin, bed-mates and lackies to public positions.
Bush Tea you are correct that several senior officers have left the Force out of frustration with Dottin.
BAFFY
you miss bonny pepper and I miss JC REAL BAD
YOU STEAL SHE WAY FROM ME?
David
Would like someone to offer an estimate of the cost to this country and the VALUE of such a loss to the RBPF. While at it, how about the loss due to those who ‘left the force’ but remained on the job…?
….what Bushell termed as presenteeism…?
After that exercise, do the same with the BDF.
@ Carl Moore
I will take you up on that offer, and bring along my good wife. May I also bring along dr wiltshsire, the Barbados Scholar in s cience?
I have always said that we ought to get rid of BS. They were first invented in the 1920. Now we are dumbing down.
I tell wunna Arfta waiting in the wings for when the spot light shine pun Amused and Miller’s girl hear … Arfta is a political wizard … HA HA HA … Wunna think that he had really plan to resign permanently … HA HAHA
old onion bags | June 18, 2013 at 4:42 PM |
Carl Mo….give it a rest nah! Shiite man ya like broken record.
wunna not see the man looking fuh he meal ticket,,,, he ain’t write nutting fuh a long time…… so he cum her pun BU looking fuh a story,,,,,,hee haw!
What is the point of Dale Marshall’s press conference this afternoon?
Until the public is made privy to what Dottin has done to precipitate the Governor General’s he cannot speak with authority he did.
I relative of mine in North America stated bluntly why have these big headlines about Dottin and not one reason stating why he was fired….bottom line, Hal, you are right a great big dumb down has occurred over the years in the education and commonsense area.
@ BAFBFP | June 18, 2013 at 5:01 PM |
Man BAF, if the CoP had a sliver of decency and dignity for his own self he should have done what he said he would do at the beginning of this year; that is, fill out his papers and apply for a conveniently timed and arranged Retirement from the Force like CoPs before him and what many top civil servants are doing.
After the fiasco involving the two British ladies and their alleged “unidentifiable” rapist he should have done just that and saved himself the public humiliation this DLP administration planned for him.
But, maybe, he is looking for a large settlement involving long drawn out court battles from a financially broke government.
This administration is just to keen to stir up controversy as a ruse to take the people’s focus away from the coming economic bombs about to explode this year when the forex will all but disappear.
You see how optics can work!
Here we are witnessing the death and burial of King Sugar and the dismissal of 250 workers with such vitally important events being diverted by the “disciplinary machinations” of a vicious political party keen to ‘get back at’ a CoP that should have been much smarter to see what was obviously inevitable since early last year and should have taken the necessary evasive actions to save his reputation and dignity from politically inspired and arranged opprobrium and gossip.
Pretty insightful Miller …
Ha ha … you competing with me now with this intrigue thing nah … Ha ha. I got a fiction in the works to be published some time soon … HA HA.
@miller you now reassure me that they got people on this blog that can see past the Weapons of Mass Distraction the DEMs throwing out on Barbados. If they were problems with the CoP why is it done NOW in such a way to drag his name and character through the mud!!!
Is this the first step in preparation to “crack some head and shoot some people” by appointing an acting Commissioner from the Blue corner in the North?
Coupled with this fiasco of being linked to Dottin and Wire
Tapping Mottley’s situation has suddenly deteriorated rapidly to terminally sick.
The document filed on Friday bt Edmund Hinkson has made some very serious and painful charges against Mottley as a supposedly senior member of the BLP and one who was vying for leadership of the party, in the document it claims among many other volatile claims that during the 2008 election campaign that she Mottley using funds she stole from the BLP bank account and later transferred to another bank account that during the campaign she canvassed for and on behalf of Irene Sandiford -Garner against George Payne in St Andrew and paid people to undermine him and also paid for Taxis for use by the Senator on election day the same claim is made about her involvement in the Dale Marshall and Arthur’s campaigns.
She is also charged with the embezzlement of the funds which were left in the account of the BLP.
Hinkson claims no fault and pleads that with what is known he has not done any wrong, and that he was merely repeating the claims made earlier in the same contentious meeting, there is a lot of pain in this defence and along with her involvement with the sad affair with Dottin and their wire Tapping scenario and my sources also indicated that beyond any shadow of a doubt her name will feature prominently when Dottin’s matter gets aired properly.
No wonder the empty vessel has been keeping a lot of noise as it is being done to distract the public from the real issues that are biting at her now.
AC…I see you working overtime…..but to what avail doh?…really ya could TAKE A BREAK….lol
I saw Guyson Mayers on TV night in an ill fitting suit, he did his dirty deed and now has no comment. Have no fear Guyson Mayers, your day will come too. You and your ilk are only there for a while, time longer than twine! The Dems will not always be the government, remember David Thompson got rid of David Simmons? And where is David Thompson today? Life is strange!
Press Statement by Dale Marshall, Q.C., M.P Shadow Attorney General
June 18, 2013
The Barbados Labour Party and in fact, all right thinking Barbadians are alarmed at the recent developments in relation to the Royal Barbados Police Force (RBPF) and its Commissioner of Police, Mr. Darwin Dottin.
The news broke last night that with immediate effect the PSC had sent Mr. Dottin on administrative leave until further notice. This leave is pending the determination by His Excellency that he be retired from the Office of Commissioner of Police under the power conferred by the Pensions Act to retire persons who have reached the age of 55 years. It is of course passing strange that the statutory basis for the proposed separation from the force is simply related to age under the Pensions Act; and not to dereliction of duty or any failings in the performance of his duties under the Police Act. It is intended that Commissioner Dottin be separated from the force only on the basis of him having attained the age of 55, which age he reached 7 or 8 long years ago.
How is a separation from the force, based on reaching the age of 55 capable of being done “in the public interest”? This kind of reasoning is an insult to all Barbadians, and the irony is that we are today debating in parliament a White Paper on Aging.
Is this some kind of poorly camouflaged disciplinary proceeding against the Commissioner of Police, especially since on the last occasion when such was attempted a few years ago, the charges clearly did not even get off the ground?
This comes on the heels of the congratulatory remarks of many members of the Cabinet who highlighted the wonderful job that had been done by the Police Force in recent months. The public is justified in being confounded at this sudden turn of events.
The signs of trouble however were always in the background.
The country learnt as recently Sunday of the baffling position taken by the PSC not to include the Commissioner in the process of the selection of a Deputy Commissioner of Police. This position would have struck all Barbadians as being bizarre, as it is absolutely illogical that the head of a specialised body, such as the police force, would be excluded from the decision on who should be his deputy, but also on the matter of the succession planning for the leadership of the Force. More importantly, the Police Act at section 8 confers on the Commissioner of Police the command and superintendence of the Force and he is accountable only to the Governor General for the efficient administration and government of the Force and the proper expenditure of all monies budgeted for the Police.
Accordingly, the Commissioner would be the most obvious person for the Police Service Commission to consult with, as he would have worked with all of the potential candidates for the post of Deputy Commissioner, and he would be expected to be able to provide valuable insights into their strengths and weaknesses, and their potential for leadership.
None of the members of the Police Service Commission (PSC) would be in a position to offer such insights, and notwithstanding that the Chairman of the Commission was a former police officer, he left the Force many years ago and in a junior rank. Moreover, the Chairman should be well aware of the dangers of advising himself on matters with which he is not intimately familiar. It is for these reasons that the Leader of the Opposition would have expressed her objection to the appointment of Mr. Mayers when she was consulted by the Prime Minister on his appointment as Chairman in accordance with the Constitution.
The public will also recall that the PSC has taken similar positions in relation to the last two sets of promotions within the Force, inasmuch as the Commission, by and large, rejected the Commissioner’s recommendations for promotions and accepted the recommendations of his then deputy, who has now retired.
This most recent act of the PSC demonstrates for all to see that the RBPF has not been allowed to settle and that the PSC is intent on continuing to act, reckless as to whether their action will lead to further unrest within the ranks of the force.
The opposition has a number of important questions for the PSC.
When will the Prime Minister come and address the country on this turn of events that is unprecedented in the history of independent Barbados, inasmuch as he was consulted on the appointment of the replacement of Commissioner Dottin? Barbadians would have expected that at the very least the Attorney General would have made a Ministerial Statement regarding the matter during Parliament’s sitting today.
Why has the Police Service Commission (PSC) after consultation with the Prime Minister chosen an officer to act as Commissioner of Police who is junior to other senior officers and who did NOT apply for the vacant post of Deputy Commissioner of Police?
On what basis can the Police Service Commission seek to fill the post of Deputy when the rank and seniority of at least 4 of the applicants for this post may be affected by the case that is currently pending before the High Court?
Why has the Police Service Commission only met with the Commissioner of Police once in 5 and a half years? Is this failure to meet with the Commissioner not the underlying reason for the large number of problems that the Force has experienced in recent years? Will this lack of communication with the one person at law responsible for the command and superintendence of the Force continue or will they suddenly recognise their duty to work hand in glove with the Commissioner?
Why does this administration refuse to focus on the real needs of the police force – a force that does not have adequate supplies of uniforms; a vehicle fleet that is breaking down daily; inadequate supplies of ammunition for the range; and a host of other challenges that makes it harder for them to protect and serve the Barbadian public in the manner to which we are entitled.
The Opposition has repeatedly called for the Government to cease its political interference with the Royal Barbados Police Force and allow it to be run as a modern, professional force should be run. A demoralised and weakened police force benefits only the criminal element in this country.
It is too vital an institution in, and to, Barbados to be meddled with in this way.
This same Poor Rakey Dale Marshall that motley paid canvassers to help unseat?
He is pathetic in every aspect
Give us a break @ 7.13 pm.
What a supremely tangled web you wove! You could write for “days of our lives”.
Unless Hinkson has caught some of the vapours from his predecessor and seeks to take over a badly depleted leaderless opposition or defect to the Governing party, such revelations make absolutely no political sense.
Will await more credible information.
checkit-out
Agreed
But I don’t want any civil servants retiring at 55, when I have to work until I am 67.
It feel real funny that I have to pay to support people who are 55 or 56 when I am 65, 66, or 67 and still working.
Miller etc at 12:57 p.m. “We await the arrival of the blowflies congregating down Kensington New Road”
Who you calling blow flies?
BDF Chief of Staff to retire at 50.
Enterprise Growth Fund CEO to retire with immediate effect …! Stupse … I just wake up ..!
@ Simple Simon | June 18, 2013 at 8:38 PM
We can only tell you that when you let us know what is your ‘simple’ understanding of “blowflies”.
Deal or no deal?
David I have a real problem with all these early retirements in the civil service, police bdf etc.
David I literally changed some of these fellas diapers, I won’t embarrass anybody by calling any names now but why am I still working when the li’l pickneys drawing pensions?
@Simple Simon
It is your government who implement these policies.
@ BAFBFP | June 18, 2013 at 9:00 PM |
If he is that Simmonds or Simmons fella you should not be surprised.
He is not too ‘sympathetic’ (should we say) to the DLP beggars and parasite queuing up for free money.
Neither should you be overly surprised if Terrence Thornhill becomes the de facto CEO cum Executive Chairman “until further notice”. After all he has nothing to do at CLICO when the day comes except draw a massive salary and perks on payday from the suckers called premiums payment cash cows.
How come BAF you didn’t get any free money from the EGFL recently?
Won’t be overly shocked if that is one of the financial leeches on the public purse up for the chop in the coming IMF inspired programme of fiscal consolidation and structural adjustments.
David | June 18, 2013 at 5:42 PM |
What is the point of Dale Marshall’s press conference this afternoon?
========================
Wait that was Dale Marshall on telly? I swore that was Tony Tony the ex con who rides a buggy with white people in it at the Sandy Lane Gold Cup race. Anybody know if Dale Marshall has a criminal record?
Just asking.
Same Lying DLP hacks on BU with different monikers!
Give me a break= To the Point= CCC
I thought you all said that the election is over!
Where is the leadership?
When is the DLP going to lead this country?
Is the DLP going to lurch from one crisis to another week after week?
Continue to blame the BLP and see how far this gets Barbados.
Nothing is happening in Barbados to generate foreign exchange. Continue to blame the business sector and call the selfish like the pigtail man, Reggie Hunte.
Total incompetent people who are only good in opposition and only good in being spiteful with fellow Barbadians whose only crime is that they don’t share a DLP view!
Crop Over will not take away our problems!
But lets face it. Under Mr Dottin’s leadership, we have witnessed the most successful campaign against the drug trade. One wonders if this had any bearing on the Commissioner’s downfall.
@Give us a break June 18, 2013 at 1:40 PM..”I anticipate that over the next few days there will be mass celebrations at every station in the island; sick officers will swiftly locate better health; smiles will return to the faces of hundreds; going to work will not seem so futile; birds will start to sing above stations; bees will buzz with delight [not all Bees though]; the grass will look greener; the sky over stations will no longer always seem dark; pudding and souse on Saturdays will taste better; going to Church will make sense again; and it will be safe to go outside.”
Give us a break, give us a break. Anybody reading your drivel would think that the Christ had returned and had created for us a new heaven on earth.
Tomorrow when I get up I still have to cook, wash, clean the house and yard, iron, clean shit and piss and go to wu’k.
Dottin’s dismissal does not mean that the Christ has returned.
@David | June 18, 2013 at 9:04 PM
@Simple Simon…It is your government who implement these policies.
But David all Barbados governments are my government, even when I didn’t vote for them.
I just made a simple statement. I don’t want anybody whose diapers/nappies I changed to retire before me.
If they do I feel like they un-fairing we the poor overburdened taxpayers.
What part o’ that you don’t understand?
Miller
EGFL will be a topic for another day … again …!
Almost 200 comments and no one has written that Bajans owe a debt of gratitude to the COP because he has reduced crime or that Bajans have an increased level of security at home or at work and that was his main job wasn’t it? We all know the answer to that “there is no there there” but if we are all clamouring for accountability and competence isn’t it time that a few of these asbestos cladded persons be shown the door? The BLP statement from Doofus Marshall was just a lot of hot air trying to score political points but the politicians will get their “mene mene tekel upharsin “ in due course
This wasn’t even a firing he was just given a gentle push as he was going through the door, now Winston Cox was a firing but the Gov of the CB is a creature of the MOF and the MOF answered to the PM and the PM only answered to God and up to this day many of us don’t have a clue why Cox was cashiered.
David at 5:42 you said:
What is the point of Dale Marshall’s press conference this afternoon?
Until the public is made privy to what Dottin has done to precipitate the Governor General’s he cannot speak with authority he did.
The procedure adopted by the Police Service Commission does not allow for any offence by Dottin being put to him for him to defend himself, despite what the suspension letter states. From reading the letter, it is clear that the PSC made certain allegations against the Commissioner. That being the case the PSC should have recommended his interdiction from duty and brought charges against him. An inquiry would then be set up to hear the charges and determine his guilt or innocence. Instead they opted to blend two different procedures to come up with this hybrid nonsense that Dottin is being subjected to.
Firstly, the PSC does not seek the advice of the GG: it advises him on the action to take and the GG is obliged to take the action. Rather, Dottin is presented with a letter setting out the GG’s views. One of which is that the GG is of the view that he should be placed on administrative leave. Mind you, there is no such leave in the General Orders for the Public Service. As a result, the whole case against Dottin is tainted. The GG should have been advised to interdict Dottin pending the outcome of charges. In this case, the procedure is inverted with the GG giving the advice.
It would appear that the GG has descended into the administration of the Police Force and is acting at first instance when in fact he is the head of the body that would have to hear any appeal from Dottin if he were found guilty of any offence. This is precisely why Elliott Belgrave as a judge was so often appealed successfully: he has this habit of getting into things that should not concern him.
Maybe someone charge him with Violet Beckles case and found him stupid by stopping its after Violet and David died , Aug 23rd 2010 and Oct 23rd 2010 and to let the crooks keep running this place in the the ground with Fraud.
Who ever push out Dottin need to go over to the BAR and remove some lawyers also. Its may not be nice but we know no ghost broke laws and hurt older people of Barbados.At some point we cant have back logs of injustice looking for out others to clean up the dirty doings.
We love to know what the charges were if any ? and how the ball got rolling , Is there unseen rules we dont know about or did they finally got the goods on the ex top cop?
We dont know why hes gone but we glad, and so is Violet Beckles and
Beatrice Henry a few more have to go., to get the ball rolling.
Stay tuned .Make a list ,check it twice.By the numbers people by the numbers , 9 years in office , on the 18th Gone.
blphqafterelections
FLASHBACK: BLP parliamentary group at February 25 meeting which is now the subject of a law suit brought by veteran MP George Payne QC (right) against fellow attorney and first timer in the House of Assembly Edmund Hinkson (left).
Opposition Leader Mia Mottley has been accused of deliberately undermining the chances of the Barbados Labour Party in the February 21 general election.
This damning charge, contained in an affidavit lodged in the High Court last Friday by St. James North MP Edmund Hinkson, alleged that at a meeting held at the BLP’s Roebuck Street, St. Michael headquarters on February 25, St. Andrew MP George Payne said Mottley assisted the Democratic Labour Party in the election.
The affidavit noted that Payne accused Mottley of “treacherous and disloyal” conduct by aiding defeated DLP candidate Irene Sandiford-Garner in her campaign against him.
“He specifically accused Ms Mottley of putting one of her vehicles at the disposal of Irene Sandiford-Garner for use during the campaign,” Hinkson’s affidavit read.
Hinkson’s affidavit is a response to a lawsuit for defamation brought by Payne against him on April 25. Hinkson, an attorney-at-law, also stated that Payne accused Mottley of assisting the DLP in their campaign against St. Joseph MP Dale Marshall. The document indicated Mottley vehemently denied Payne’s accusations.
Hinkson also charged that at the meeting Payne accused Mottley of stealing party funds.
Supporting the cause at post-election meeting: Dwight Sutherland, George Payne and Cynthia Forde. New MP Edmund Hinkson gets a hug from colleague Kerre Symmonds.
New MP Edmund Hinkson gets a hug from colleague Kerre Symmonds.
“During the meeting personal insults were traded between many of those present. The claimant [Payne], himself, accused Ms. Mottley, who is herself a long standing member of Parliament, a Queen’s Counsel, former Leader of the Opposition and the main contender for re-election as Leader of the Opposition, of criminal conduct.
“Specifically, he alleged that she had embezzled funds from the BLP during her previous tenure as Leader of the Opposition during the period January, 2008, and October, 2010, and had used these monies for her own purposes and placed them in accounts for her own benefit,” Hinkson said.
Hinkson stated that it was following Payne’s “scurrilous accusations” against Mottley and in the heated setting of the meeting, that he “in a normal tone of voice” responded to Payne’s attack on Mottley.
Hinkson denied using the defamatory language of which he is accused by Payne but admitted that he did tell him that he “had no moral authority to accuse anyone of dishonorable conduct or to speak ill about the leadership of the Barbados Labour Party.”
Hinkson denied that he called Payne “a crook and a criminal” at the meeting, but admitted that he told him that he was not fit to be a Member of Parliament based on his conduct “and that in some countries he would be in prison therefor”.
He acknowledged he said that as a Queen’s Counsel and BLP chairman, Payne had been involved in “fraudulent conduct” during the campaign to select a candidate for the St. James North seat which was vacated by former MP Rawle Eastmond.
“The defendant contends that words spoken by him were relevant to the proceedings in that it was a legitimate reply to the attack on Ms. Mottley’s suitability and fitness for the office which she sought. It is contended, further, that it was a valid commentary on the claimant’s credibility since the members present may have relied on the claimant’s allegations in rejecting Ms. Mottley’s candidacy for the post of Leader of the Opposition.
“Alternatively, the defendant contends that in the circumstances of this discordant meeting during which rancor, insults and accusations were hurled by some members against each other, his words, in so far as they went beyond what was necessary to respond to the attack made on Ms. Mottley, constituted no more than mere vulgar abuse,” Hinkson stated.
Hinkson contended that though the words used by him were reasonably capable of being understood out of context and to bear a defamatory meaning, they were not in fact understood to convey any criminal imputation or bear any meaning defamatory of the claimant in the circumstances in which they were “spoken and published”.
Supporting the cause at post-election meeting: Dwight Sutherland, George Payne and Cynthia Forde.
Supporting the cause at post-election meeting: Dwight Sutherland, George Payne and Cynthia Forde.
In his claim for damages, costs and injunction against Hinkson repeating the alleged defamatory comments, Payne charged Hinkson said: “You are a crook and a criminal; you are a big Queen’s Counsel and you committed fraud; you are totally unfit to be a member of parliament; you ain’t got any right here; you should be in prison.”
Payne stated that he felt humiliated, depressed and embarrassed by Hinkson’s comments which he described as totally untruthful. He said he had never had such damaging accusations made against him nor was he privy to any conduct on his part which would warrant such a damaging assessment of his character.
In Hinkson’s affidavit he said Payne was a “hands on campaign manager” during the process to select a BLP candidate for St. James North and the St. Andrew MP “took an active part in meeting eligible voters and fraudulently attempting to convert them into card carrying members of the BLP by collecting names and falsifying and/or causing to be falsified at least 75 BLP membership application forms”.
“Those forms were filled out in the name of persons registered to vote in the St. James North constituency. The forms contained the forged signatures of the alleged applicants and were filled out, signed and submitted without their knowledge, approval and/or consent between the period October, 2008 and October, 2009 or thereabouts.”
Hinkson noted that some of the falsified forms were submitted to the BLP secretariat and as a consequence Payne himself or “working with others” caused BLP membership cards to be fraudulently issued in the names of at least 75 registered voters without their knowledge, approval and/or consent.
He added that contrary to usual BLP practice, many of the 75 cards were not presented to the individuals in whose names they were issued, but were held by Payne and/or by persons acting with his knowledge and permission.
Hinkson noted that these allegations were true in substance and in fact. He also noted that his actions were not as a result of malice and added he had good and reasonable bases on which to believe that what he had said were true. Hinkson said his comments were relevant to the business, purpose and issues of the meeting. Hinkson noted that through attorney Sir Richard Cheltenham Q.C., he had offered a satisfactory apology and suitable amends to Payne in a letter dated March 19, 2013.
In any event, Hinkson contended that “in the context of the purpose of the meeting, it was an occasion which attracted the protection of qualified privilege. As such the proceedings of the meeting and statements made in the course of it are protected by privilege”. (WG/RRM)
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