LAWYERS in the NEWS

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No single profession attracts the ire of Barbadians like lawyers. On a daily basis For example, we often hear complaints about lawyers taking unreasonably long periods of time to transfer monies from clients accounts to their clients. The complaints come from Barbadians living overseas  who having entrusted life long savings (pensions) to lawyers to settle various transactions in absentia or Barbadians on the rock who have no choice but to take on the stress of the legal system to process routine transactions.

The Bar Association (BA) has done little to assuage the concerns by Barbadians that it is an efficient self regulating body.  Suggestions to include ordinary folks on the BA’s Disciplinary Committee has not met with a favourable response. There is a sense lawyers and by extension the legal system has the country in a vice grip headlock.    Where are ordinary citizens to turn for justice if the Court System, its trusted officers (lawyers) and the BA continue to NOT satisfactorily resolve concerns from citizenry?

BU accepts bad apples are to be found in all professions – doctors, engineers, construction class, bankers and the list is very long. However, what cannot be denied is the ‘omnipresence’ nature of the legal profession on our little society. What cannot be denies is the right of Barbadians to assign priority to issues affecting them as they think fit.  The time for citizens, ordinary and others, to fight back.

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297 thoughts on “LAWYERS in the NEWS”


  1. A law firm (an attorney at law) advertising its services over the internet should have a secure international standard website.

    I entered the name of a well-know Barbados law firm into my search engine. My computer informed me that my connection to this site is NOT SECURE; YOUR CONNECTION IS NOT PRIVATE; YOUR CONNECTION TO THIS SITE ISN’T FULLY SECURE. ATTACKERS MAY BE ABLE TO SEE THE IMAGES YOU’RE LOOKING AT ON THIS SITE AND TRICK YOU BY MODIFYING THEM.

    The law firm in question has a hyphenated name.

    By the way, BU’s website is secure.

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  2. I am looking at the blogs posted here within the past few months. I get the impression that these misdeeds are being taken more seriously.

    I like this paragraph in one of the post
    “He said he opted not to do so at the time but promised that once Worrell’s appeal was completed, the court would revisit the matter.”

    Translation
    “Yuh play yuh bad. Wait and see.”

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  5. Former head of the Drug Squad ,no less!

    Oh lord!

    You see now why the young people have no respect for the police?

    Some of them may have been in his employ!

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  6. Lawyer in custody
    POLICE PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICER, Acting Inspector Rodney Inniss, has confirmed that attorney George Adolphus Bennett is in police custody but he said no charges have been laid so far.
    Reports indicate that the 60-year-old lawyer was taken into custody last Friday in relation to the discovery of several bales of marijuana and ammunition.
    Bennett was a policeman in the Royal Barbados Police Force for 23 years before retiring in 2005. He worked for many years as an inspector attached to the Drug Squad.
    An avid hockey player, he has captained and managed the Barbados national hockey team, and last year he was appointed president of the International Hockey Federation’s judicial commission.
    (Nation News Desk)

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  8. Donna July 31, 2021 8:08 PM #: “Former head of the Drug Squad ,no less! Oh lord! You see now why the young people have no respect for the police?”

    @ Donna

    I understand your point about ‘young people not respecting police officers.’

    Remember, Bennett is not a police officer, he’s a civilian…….. ‘who should know better.’

    It’s ironic the former Inspector of Police who was attached to the Drug Squad for several years, has been arrested, charged & remanded for crimes he previously arrested and charged and, as an attorney, currently represents people for committing.

    I remember him being promoted through the ranks from a Police Constable to Station Sargeant to Inspector.

    I’m sure his former colleagues are very disappointed.

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  9. Date set for attorney’s case

    Attorney Norman Leroy Lynch will go on trial in October accused of stealing over $450 000.
    Yesterday, Lynch, 71, of Grassfield Gap, Martindales Road, St Michael, was arraigned in the No. 2 Supreme Court that he engaged in money laundering, in that he directly engaged in transactions totalling $457 624 being the proceeds of crime, between June 22, 2007 and December 21, 2008.
    He was also accused of stealing $50 000, between June 18, 2008 and December 21, 2008, and stealing $407 634 between June 22, 2007 and December 21, 2008.
    Senior Crown Counsel Olivia Davis and Crown Counsel Romario Straker are prosecuting.
    Justice Randall Worrell set October 18 as the trial date. (HLE)

    Source: Nation

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  10. 9:38 a.m.
    This kind of article is a waste of time.
    Allowing more than a decade to pass and then having a trial.
    What the client wants he)she will never get – their money back.
    Summary
    Bullshit
    Pissing on people legs and telling them it is raining.

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  11. These trials are what Trinidadians call a pappyshow.

    It would appear that given the age of the lawyer they system lords we’re waiting for the lawyer to die.

    Bank accounts should have been frozen so that the money could not be transferred (laundered) or spent.

    Any trial that does return the victim’s money is an injustice.

    Then they have this sham fund that will give the victim a pittance of what he/she lost.

    What a horrible and vicious scam for a system.

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  12. After doing some digging, it appears the author of the blogmaster’s favorite editorial should be in list of rogues.

    Some Bajans get ‘honorable’ mention.

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  14. There’s an underlying fear of working hard, putting it together, returning home and running into a group of crooks. They have one intention and that is to separate you from your money.

    The fear of return to a garden of Eden infested with snakes.

    And institutions which are supposed to protect then go through a mind numbing charade of doing something… t’s are crossed, i’s are dotted and at the end of it you are still not whole; nothing was done; justice was not served; just pretense; a sick and crooked game.

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  15. For now – the last word

    There are small and easy fixes that can be made but no one cares to make them. There are the low hanging fruits that everyone refuse to pick.

    It is as if we have irremovable wickedness wired into our system; as if there is a fear to excise these rotten parts and make ourselves better.

    We have become insensitive to the suffering of others and would defend a system that would victimize us if our circumstances change. We are either prey, victims or scared onlookers.

    There are the useless tasks that we pursue with great vigor. We invest our energy in replacing one word by another little realizing that the power and symbolism of words lies in how strongly they are etched in our minds.
    We cannot remove them from the dictionary and ceremonies cannot exercise them from our minds.

    There is the belief that we must all sing in unison, raise our voices in praise and ignore the flaws that are readily apparent.

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  16. Pile charged with stealing again
    CONVICTED ATTORNEY Vonda Pile, already serving a sentence for theft of a client’s money, was committed to the High Court on another theft charge when she appeared in the District “A” Magistrates’ Court.
    Pile, of Madison Terrace, Deacons Farm, St Michael, and a near 30-year veteran of the legal fraternity, was ordered to stand trial on a charge of stealing $205 481, between January 11, 2007, and March 16, 2011, being the proceeds of a Royal Bank of Canada cheque payable to Patricia Hall.
    She is also accused of engaging in money laundering in that she disposed of $205 481, being the proceeds of crime.
    Magistrate Manila Renee committed Pile, who had been granted bail on the matter when she first appeared at the District “A” Magistrates’ Court, to the Assizes. It was in 2019 that the attorney was convicted, by majority verdict, of stealing US$96 008 between April 29, 2009, and October 26, 2010, from Bajan/New Yorker businessman Anstie King. She was, however, found not guilty, by majority verdict, of money laundering.
    Justice Pamela Beckles jailed Pile for three years minus the 94 days she had spent on remand.
    However, Pile appealed her conviction and sentence and, while on bail pending its hearing, she had resumed her practice.
    The Court of Appeal later ordered her back to jail to finish serving the three-year sentence after it found no merit in any of the seven grounds of her appeal.
    Her attorney, Queen’s Counsel Andrew Pilgrim, has since indicated he will be appealing to the Caribbean Court of Justice.

    Source: Nation

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  17. This is part of the reason the Barbados Court is accused of being inefficient and the law sometimes called an ass.

    Court runs out of time to wrap up
    CHIEF MAGISTRATE IAN WEEKES’ plan to wrap up his decision on submissions in the extradition matter against Alex Tasker hit a stumbling block yesterday when Queen’s Counsel Andrew Pilgrim requested an adjournment because of the late hour of the day.
    The Chief Magistrate had just heard oral arguments as a follow-up to written submissions by Pilgrim and Acting Director of Public Prosecutions Alliston Seale, in the District “A” Magistrates’ Court, and was delivering his decision on those submissions when Pilgrim drew the court’s attention to the time.
    It was 4:01 p.m.
    Under the law, a magistrate has to ask an accused for permission to hear a matter after 4 p.m.
    “I hate to interrupt you,” the senior attorney told the Chief Magistrate, “but it’s after 4 and I think you require our consent to go beyond.
    Request for pause
    “In the circumstances that I may want to take some further instructions, I would like to ask you to pause so that we can address matters, until tomorrow, if you wish,” Pilgrim said.
    Chief Magistrate Weekes said he was only responding to the submissions of counsel.
    “I will then have to go on and ask a question to your side as to what you all wish to do in relation to the whole process,” he said.
    “Then coming out of that the court would then make a determination. The other side will still have to be asked if they wish to submit anything for the court’s consideration.
    “I was hopeful the matter would be completed today (yesterday), at least this phase,” the Chief Magistrate said.
    He then adjourned the matter until today when
    he will continue delivering his decision.
    The former senior vice-president of the Insurance Corporation of Barbados Ltd (ICBL), of Mayfair Terrace, Leadvale, Christ Church, is wanted in the United States to face trial for conspiracy to launder money and money laundering between August 2015 and April 2016.
    He is being represented by Pilgrim and attorney Neville Reid, while Seale and Senior Crown Counsel Oliver Thomas are appearing for the United States government.
    Tasker remains on $200 000 bail with a surety; his passport remains in the custody of the court; he continues to report to the Glebe Police Station every Tuesday, Friday and Sunday, and is on a 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew.

    This is part of the reason the Barbados Court is accused of being inefficient and the law sometimes called an ass.

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  19. Lawyer must serve jail time
    by HEATHER-LYNN EVANSON heatherlynevanson@nationnews.com
    CONVICTED ATTORNEY Vonda Pile’s bid to have her conviction and jail time for stealing a client’s funds quashed was shot down by the Court of Appeal on Friday.
    It ruled that it would not be granting her special leave to appeal to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).
    Pile, of Madison Terrace, Deacons Farm, St Michael, was convicted, by majority verdict, in 2019 of stealing US$96 008, between April 29, 2009, and October 26, 2010, from Bajan/New Yorker businessman Anstey King. However, she was found not guilty, by majority verdict, of money laundering. Justice Pamela Beckles jailed Pile for three years, minus the 94 days she had spent on remand. The lawyer subsequently appealed her conviction and sentence, with her attorney Queen’s Counsel Andrew Pilgrim arguing that the trial judge failed to withdraw the case from the jury at the close of the prosecution’s case; that the judge failed to remedy the prejudicial evidence of the Crown; that the judge failed to adequately put Pile’s case to the jury, and that the judge had failed to direct the jury on several issues of law.
    Pilgrim also argued the jury should have been directed on the law of conveyancing, and that it had been an abuse of process for the Crown to proceed with the charge of money laundering.
    The Court of Appeal rejected all those grounds and sent Pile back to HMP Dodds to finish serving her sentence. She was on bail pending the hearing.
    Pile later petitioned the Court of Appeal for special leave to appeal to the CCJ, with her attorney and the Crown’s team of Principal Crown Counsel Krystal Delaney, Senior
    Crown Counsel Oliver Thomas and Crown Counsel Kevin Forde submitting written arguments on the matter.
    The judges of the Court of Appeal, who sent an order to the attorneys involved, decided on the arguments and dismissed the appeal.
    Complainant King had approached Pile to purchase a piece of land in Barbados after he used her services to buy his house in Strathclyde, St Michael. Pile showed him a parcel of land in Maxwell, Christ Church, and quoted $290 000 and $295 000. King paid all the money up front.
    However, on a visit to the island, he went to look at the land and realised it was not the one he had been shown and paid for. He demanded his money back and Pile refunded him US$48 000. After failing to recover the remainder, King went to the police.


    Source: Nation

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  20. Lawyer’s theft trial set for next year
    THE THEFT and money laundering trial of attorney Ernest Winston Jackman has been set for early in the new year.
    When the attorney reappeared in the No. 2 Supreme Court, prosecutor Senior Crown Counsel Olivia Davis said the trial could not proceed because of the COVID-19 pandemic and would have to be pushed back.
    Attorney Mohia Ma’at, who was representing Jackman, did not object and Justice Randall Worrell adjourned the trial until January 12.
    Jackman, 66, of Wiltshire Plantation House, Wiltshire, St Philip, has pleaded not guilty to stealing $678 414.75, between June 23, 2006, and March 5, 2007, belonging to HEJ Ltd. The lawyer has also pleaded not guilty to directly engaging in transactions totalling $678 414.75, between June 23, 2006, and October 18, 2011, being the proceeds of crime.

    Source: Nation

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  22. Court: No to judge’s recusal

    An application to have Justice of Appeal Rajendra Narine recuse himself from a leave to appeal hearing involving attorney Philip Nicholls has failed.
    Justice of Appeal Jefferson Cumberbatch delivered the unanimous decision in the Court of Appeal on Thursday after Nicholls’ attorney, Sir Elliott Mottley QC, argued that Justice of Appeal Narine should not be part of the panel because of perceived bias.
    The Court of Appeal had dismissed a recommendation by the Disciplinary Committee of the Barbados Bar Association, by a majority 2-1 decision, that Nicholls be disbarred back in July.
    The Disciplinary Committee had charged professional misconduct on Nicholls’ part in the matter involving Elma Inniss and Joyce Bowen, executrices in the estate of the late John Connor. It was reported that the committee made the recommendation after Nicholls was unable to account for $860 000, the proceeds of the 2008 sale of a property formerly owned by couple John and Hazel Connor.
    Retired Justice of Appeal Kaye Goodridge and Acting Justice of Appeal William Chandler had found that the report of the Bar Association to disbar Nicholls was not valid, but Justice of Appeal Narine dissented, saying that the report was not flawed.
    Lawyers for the executrices, Barry Gale QC, Laura Harvey-Read and Ivan Alert, filed an application for leave to go to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) to challenge the majority verdict. However, Sir Elliott objected to Justice of Appeal Narine being part of the panel to hear the substantive matter.
    Submissions considered
    On Thursday, Justice of Appeal Cumberbatch noted the court was seized of the in limine application by Sir Elliott and Kashka Mottley and had considered the relevant authorities and submissions of the respective parties.
    “We consider apart from an unfortunate and gratuitous comparison of the intended respondent with other attorneys earlier convicted of theft, we do not think that his overall judgement betrays a real possibility of bias in the circumstances,” he said.
    “Our judgment is that the application is dismissed,
    with the written judgment to be ready by December 29.”
    Following the decision, Justice of Appeal Narine said: “To my mind, I simply could not turn a blind eye to the contents of those minutes, which were before the court quite independent of the report . . . . The remark which I made with respect to attorneys being convicted of similar conduct or offences arising from similar conduct was unfortunate and gratuitous.
    “While this may be so, I do not wish to disagree with my learned brothers, but I simply wish to point out that it was merely a comment based on a disturbing trend which I perceive in the profession – that is the use of clients’ funds for personal purposes of the attorney.
    “I did not wish in any way to suggest that Mr Nicholls should be convicted for a like offence,” he added.
    Sir Elliott also served notice of his intention to challenge Gale’s locus standi – his right to bring the application before the court and before the CCJ.
    Appearing amicus curiae for the Barbados Bar Association was Rosalind Smith-Miller, Rita Evans for the Disciplinary Committee, and Kim Ramsay-Moore, amicus curiae on behalf of the Attorney General.
    The substantive matter, the application for leave to appeal, has been set for February 9 next year. (RA)

    Source: Nation

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  23. You have to wonder where was is insight and influence when sitting in the Cabinet of Barbados for 8 years. All of a sudden he is a fountain of knowledge.

    Lashley’s call on pre-trial files
    by BARRY ALLEYNE
    barryalleyne@nationnews.com
    A CALL HAS been made for pre-trial disclosures in Barbados to be made available in a six-month timeframe to better facilitate the criminal justice system and protect people who are forced to face lengthy delays after being charged with serious crimes.
    The call has come from senior attorney, Michael Lashley, QC, in the wake of policeman Everton Gittens’ murder case being thrown out on Tuesday by Magistrate Kristie Cuffy-Sargeant in the No. 5A Supreme Court.
    The former government minister said there could be other people still on remand at Dodds Prison or even some on bail, whose cases could also be thrown out due to flimsy evidence.
    “The fact is that we have several accused charged with murder and very serious offences, however, when we are finally served pre-trial disclosure, there is hardly any evidence for a Prima Facie case to be made out. In some instances there is no evidence at all, but all this time the accused men are on remand for years pending trial and also out on bail waiting with their lives at a standstill, and even family lives affected,” Lashley told the DAILY NATION.
    His comments came 24 hours after Magistrate Cuffy-Sargeant dismissed the murder charge and two other counts of conduct endangering life the 50-year-old Gittens had been facing since 2015. The Drug Squad officer was charged with killing Selwyn “Blues” Knight and wounding his son Junior on March 15, 2015.
    The magistrate said prosecutors had failed to satisfy the threshold of producing evidence which could lead to a Prima Facie case against the accused man.
    According to Lashley, there are ways to prevent a recurrence of Gittens’ six-year wait for a legal determination.
    “We need an intervention by lawmakers that pre-trial disclosures be served within six months of an accused person being charged. The serving of disclosure within the six-month period would avoid delays and injustices,” Lashley claimed.
    The Queen’s Counsel added that case management was of paramount importance and would decide if there was merit in charging an individual, or determining if the evidence was so substantially weak that no magistrate or reasonable
    tribunal could convict the accused person.
    Efforts yesterday to reach the Attorney General to determine the Government’s next legal move, were unsuccessful.
    Acting Director of Public Prosecutions, Alliston Seale, said his office would not comment on the matter. Another senior attorney, Andrew Pilgrim, QC, also declined to comment on the possible ramifications of the decision made to throw out the charges against Gittens.
    Lashley opined, however, that Gittens’ case could open the state to a possible civil lawsuit for malicious prosecution.
    “I must ask under what basis was this man charged. Was this man charged upon the same evidence which the magistrate dismissed as too weak to form a Prima Facie case?” Lashley asked.
    The attorney said it was clear that Gittens, who at one stage had been on remand, had his liberty taken away at some stage and his constitutional rights breached. “I however praise the magistrate for making such a bold decision in the interest of justice, and due to the weak evidence being produced,” Lashley added.


    Source: Nation

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  28. Ex-Advocate GM accused of theft
    THE FORMER GENERAL MANAGER of the
    Barbados Advocate has been charged with entering the home of the company’s publisher and his father.
    Attorney Alvin David Bryan, 52, of Astoria, St George, appeared in the District “B” Boarded Hall Magistrates’ Court on Monday, where he denied entering the house of Anthony Bryan, sometime between April 23 and 30, 2021, and stealing 17 shirts, valued at $5 337, and a $175 bottle of liquor which belonged to the Advocate Publishing 2000.
    There was no objection to bail, and Magistrate Douglas Frederick released the accused with a surety of $3 000.
    Bryan, who was represented by Queen’s Counsel Andrew Pilgrim and attorney Kyle Walkes, returns to court on June 27.
    (HLE)

    Source: Nation

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  29. Law group’s voice silent
    WHEN THE Barbados Bar Association was incorporated 82 years ago it served the interests of a small elite group who generally did not engage with or embrace the majority of the population beyond professional transactions.
    Today, there are more than 1 000 members of the Bar Association drawn from diverse backgrounds across the entire society. Times are changing but some things do not change easily, as is the case of the association, which is seemingly still aloof from the wider society.
    It remains silent on many critical issues impacting ordinary citizens, which makes hollow its stated objective “To further good relations and understanding between the Bar and the public”.
    The Bar Association naturally speaks in defence of the status and interest of the legal profession but as an influential special interest group, it has a responsibility to publicly address causes that need assistance. Its voice has been missing from too many critical matters, particularly those impacting poor people.
    One area of weakness in our society over many years and for which there is a genuine need for a champion is on behalf of people whose human rights and civil liberties have been breached. This is a matter a law society should take up and not leave to a handful of activist lawyers. The Land Acquisition Act over the years has caused severe hardships for many people who are often unable financially to challenge this law before the courts. Many suffer in silence. There is the very vexing issue of the tardiness and frustrating delays being encountered by many people with the Registration Department of the Supreme
    Court, especially as it relates to probate matters. No one seems to understand the hardships being endured. The Bar Association should show that it has not been withdrawn, but is robust in bringing about change for the betterment of the entire society. It should speak of its active engagement with the Law Reform Commission to overhaul numerous pieces of legislation that need urgent review. The association should also speak to its advocacy for solutions to deal with reducing the backlog of cases in the law courts and its push to get written judgments in a timely manner. We accept that the Bar Association has a vital function to perform, outside of its traditional offerings, both in the legal profession and in society at large. It also needs to get involved in new issues such as cybersecurity and its impact on the legal system as well as reform of the entire justice system.
    Lawyers must make a difference in the country’s development. This is why the Bar Association must be relevant in society.

    Nation Editorial

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  30. Executor: Not a cent to date
    AN EXECUTOR said yesterday he knew that over $400 000, money from the sale of a property, went to the bank because he saw the bank’s stamp on the paperwork.
    However, up to today, said Irwin Thomas, he has not seen a single cent and calls, visits, even registered letters to attorney Norman Leroy Lynch have gone unanswered.
    Thomas was the first to testify when the theft and money laundering trial of Lynch continued in the No 2 Supreme Court yesterday.
    The witness said he knew the lawyer as he had previously conducted some transactions for his father. There were no issues then, Thomas added.
    When he became one of the executors of his father’s Will, Thomas said Lynch was the attorney who “prepared the documents and everything” relating to the sale of property at the Hope, St George.
    Deposit made
    He said a deposit of $50 000 was made by the buyer’s attorney and then the final transactions was paid over to the accused.
    “It (the sale) was completed but we never received money for the purchase of the land,” he told the court.
    “We saw a copy of the cheque paid to Mr Lynch and we had the dates it was paid over and he, himself, told us he had received the cheque,” Thomas recalled.
    “But not a cent we received. The sale had gone through and the lady had taken possession of the land. After the sale was made, she even started a project on the land.”
    The witness continued he, along with the other executors of the estate, made “several visits” to the accused’s office. They tried to contact him via telephone and sent registered mail to him.
    “I even dropped a note in his mailbox in Tino Terrace,” Thomas said, but each attempt was unsuccessful.
    The family then made “representation” to the then Attorney General and contacted the Barbados Bar Association.
    “We made many attempts to have this matter resolved but it was never resolved not even until this day. We have never received a cent.
    “The accused avoided us and we’ve never seen him since that day,” he said, adding no one offered any explanation for the non-payment of the money.
    Never told
    The family then “took it to the Fraud Squad”. Thomas told the court, when crossexamined, that his family was never told that the accused “was unwell”.
    “We left numerous messages with the clerks, both in person and via telephone, and they never told us he was unwell,” the witness said.
    Thomas further said he did not know what had become of the money. “I can’t answer that. You can ask Mr Lynch. I don’t have any money. I know it went to the bank.”
    When asked why he had reported the matter to police, Thomas said: “I was hoping the police would get in contact with him and we would get some kind of resolution.”

    Source: Nation

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  31. Time to revisit international order
    by PETER LAURIE THE RUSSIAN WAR on Ukraine is the most dangerous international conflict since World War II.
    It threatens not just the people of Ukraine but, because of either Russian intransigence or miscalculation, the whole world. It can easily escalate in to World War III or, God forbid, a nuclear war.
    What makes the situation even more dangerous is Vladimir Putin himself, a megalomaniacal Greater Russian nationalist dictator, akin to Hitler.
    Let’s get something clear. Putin did not launch the invasion because he felt threatened by NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation). That was just the excuse. Like Hitler, after Germany’s defeat in the first World War, Putin, a former KGB officer, has always felt humiliated by the collapse of the Soviet Union.
    Putin wants to re-establish the Russian empire. He uses the same excuses as Hitler did in invading Poland and Czechoslovakia where there were significant German populations. By analogy, there are also significant Russian minorities in the Baltic states of Estonia (26 per cent) Latvia (25 per cent), and Lithuania (five per cent).
    From Putin’s third term in office, the ideological concept of a “Russian world” has become an intrinsic part of Russian diasporic policies. The “Russian world” comprises three pillars: Russian language, historical Soviet memory, and the Russian Orthodox Church.
    Soviet nostalgia is a tried and tested tool of the modern Russian state.
    No easy off-ramp
    As Putin said in 2014: “The Russian nation became the biggest ethnic group in the world to be divided by borders”, and it has been a long-term task of Putin to try to redefine those boundaries and reunify this fractured civilisation.
    All this is by way of saying that there is no easy off-ramp for Putin in his war on Ukraine. There are three possibilities of his backing down: 1. There are massive public protests against the war in Russia; but by controlling the media and policing the demonstrations he may thwart this.
    2. A “palace coup” in which the ministers of Foreign Affairs, Defence and Intelligence realise the war is not winnable and remove Putin from office.
    3. China puts the squeeze on him. This is the best bet, because without China, Russia cannot possibly withstand the pressure of Western sanctions and
    world-wide condemnation.
    We can only wait and see. Meanwhile, as the conflict drags on it will only compound the problems of supply chains exacerbated by the pandemic. We in the Caribbean do not have the luxury of believing that this conflict in faraway Europe will not impinge harshly on us.
    I was heartened by the prompt response of Barbados and CARICOM in not only announcing their condemnation of the Russian invasion but also voting at the UN to deplore the unprovoked Russian attack on the Ukrainian people.
    Crisis reveals
    What this crisis has revealed is how frail the present international order is. It seems totally inadequate to deal with what the recent Barbados UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development) meeting identified as a crisis of the global common good, precipitated by climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic.
    This crisis impinges on every aspect of human life: health, education, housing, nutritious food, clean water, decent work, not to mention the resilience of our institutions. It jeopardises the right and hope of every human being to enjoy a life of dignity in security and freedom.
    We need a revitalised international cooperation to arrive at a shared moral vision for our interconnected planet; a vision grounded in universal respect for human rights, especially the eradication of structural racism and structural discrimination against women.
    Peter Laurie is a former head of the Barbados Foreign Service and author of several books.


    Source: Nation

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  35. ” The client’s account maintained by attorney Norman Leroy Lynch showed a deposit of $50 000 in August 2005 and one for $407 634 in June 2007, a senior banking official said yesterday.

    That account, said CIBC FirstCaribbean’s director of retail banking channels Michelle Whitelaw, also showed three large withdrawals, including one for $290 714.60.

    The current balance, the witness said, was zero.”

    https://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/2022/03/17/account-showed-two-deposits/

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  40. I am expecting to hear lynch’s lawyer go down the road of lynch not being of sound mind in the past years
    Reason why his memory is out of sync with all that has happened

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  41. Are these cases anything more than money washing? Lawyer A steals a client’s money and washes it by paying legal fees to lawyer B over an extended trial.

    How can judges let these robberies continue by p retending to hold trials? Can these judges be thought of as honest when they allow sham trial after sham trial? By now, even a fool can see there is no justice for the victims.

    How deep is this long running scam? Is it just two lawyers washing a client’s money between them or are the judges jut a guilty?
    It is only when we stop taking things at face value, try to see the bigger picture and ask tough question that we will see things as they really are.

    How long will we allow this sham to continue. Victims are being victimized thrice, by a shady lawyer, by his crooked defense lawyer and by a shady court.

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  42. I admire those who can move from post to post and maintain a serious train of thought.

    It is difficult to see these charades and not find gallows humor in them. It is difficult to watch wealth being transferred by every scheme that man can invent ranging from outright thievery to brilliant ideas of J-Bonds and to see outrageous taxation followed by redistribution of taxes that were collected.

    One blogger constantly speaks of generational poverty, but to not understand that what we are witnesses is wickedness and the transfer of money form one pocket to a favored pocket is a sign of our ignorance.

    It takes a special kind to come here aware of the mockery others make of us and pretend to hold serious conversations.

    All is broken.

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  43. @ TheOGazerts,

    The fundamental problem is the system that allows lawyers to use a CLIENT account as their own line of credit..

    The honest lawyers don’t want to get involved in revising Bar Association ” professional standards “.

    Reply ↓

  44. @ TheOGazerts,

    Should you choose to return to Barbados to live / retire you should have gained enough information to know how to enjoy life in your homeland.

    Reply ↓

  46. Courts hard to run, says judge
    THE LAW COURTS are “extremely difficult to run” and there are many factors, including too few attorneys at the Criminal Bar, which impact on their ability to get work done, a High Court judge said yesterday.
    “Some judges fight (to get work done) but you fight at the risk of being most unpopular because when you’re finished, everybody dislikes you,” Justice Carlisle Greaves said.
    He made the comments as none of the three matters set for hearing commenced in the No. 3 Supreme Court. Two were adjourned while the third was discontinued after the complainant opted not to give any evidence.
    The judge told the waiting jurors that while they might have previously heard criticisms about the courts, they would now have a greater appreciation for how difficult it was to run a court.
    “There are so many players and so many things, it takes a very strong judge to really get the court system to work. Sometimes judges get so frustrated because it would stress you out,” he said.
    “No prosecutor likes to hear a judge jumping on him, saying, ‘You should be ready, get ready’. No defence counsel wants to hear a judge pounding them to move on, so you get unpopular with him too.
    “And no accused man, who doesn’t want to go to trial, wants to hear you forcing them to go to trial. There are some who want to go to trial but can’t get to trial because something happened and he feels the judge [is] soft.
    “Then there is the complainant who comes and doesn’t want to proceed and the judge is not able to get the case on, and he looks over by the judge and feels he’s a joker,” Justice Greaves said.
    He noted that the low number of attorneys who practised criminal law was also a problem.
    “You have in a jurisdiction where, despite admitting 50 lawyers to the Bar every year in our case, only about two or three of those are going to practise criminal law because the reality is if you are looking to make a living, criminal law isn’t for you.
    “And if you have five courts trying to run and one case has four defendants, it’s difficult to get them together to get a case on.”
    The judge added there were also times when members of the public might not understand or agree with some sentences, feeling that the offender received a “slap on the wrist”.
    “So, for example, with all these gun cases, if we had to lock up all of these, we wouldn’t get any cases tried. Every man would say not guilty because he know that it is jail big that coming. And then we wouldn’t get off the ground because before you could blink, a fella got COVID-19 three times.
    “So courts are extremely difficult to run and not only in Barbados but in every place I know they are tough,” he stressed.

    Source: Nation

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  48. Hants,
    It is boring. This is an issue where solutions are known. The best approach is to separate the client fund and the lawyer as far and as soon as possible.

    Now they are ‘introducing’ a next layer and more paperwork. Papering over the problem.

    A problem no one wants to solve

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  49. The worst kind of dishonesty is when people pretend to solve a problem and in reality do nothing.
    It is not only dishonest, it is an insult to the average Barbadian.
    Two or three honest lawyers going on the radio is a cover-up for dishonest lawyers. The show sickens me.
    I am willing to bet that if we had two or three one-armed lawyers by the end of the year, this problem would be resolved quickly.

    Reply ↓

  50. Compensation fund is a scam. Does not make a person whole
    Audit is a waste of time. Horse bolted, why look in the stall.
    All nonsense.

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  53. “The compensation fund is not meant to make a claimant whole.”

    That is exactly my point. If you take $5 from me, then I want back $5 (at least).
    Don’t smile and give me a check for 50 cents.

    That’s a game. It’s a fancy scam.

    Reply ↓

    • Do a search of BU for compensation fund. The purpose of the fund and how it is managed should be separated.


  54. Sad.
    Is that what we have come to?
    Comparable to scum?

    xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

    THE 2 x 3 ISLAND DOESN’T KNOW HOW TO LOOK IN THE MIRROR EASIER TO BURY ONE’S HEAD IN THE SAND.

    Reply ↓

  55. Listening to Brasstacks and another incredulous case this time of lawyer purportedly refusing to pay real estate agent her fee.

    Reply ↓

  56. @ Hants
    “I know four honest lawyers in Barbados.”
    ~~~~~~~~~~
    Poor you….!!
    At least two got you tricked…

    Bushie is betting that two are pretty young things…

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  57. Lack of file upsets lawyer, court
    The case of two non-nationals who have signalled their intention to plead guilty but can’t because of a lack of a file provoked the ire of their attorney and the court yesterday.
    In fact, Justice Randall Worrell has urged Queen’s Counsel Andrew Pilgrim to file bail applications on behalf of both men.
    Anton James, of Golden Lane, Seaview, Tobago, and Krysten Trim, of Bon Accord Main Road, Tobago, are on remand at Dodds Prison after they were charged with possession, trafficking and possession with intent to supply of 426.92 pounds of marijuana on February 15, 2021.
    When their matters were called during yesterday’s Status Hearings in the No. 2 Supreme Court, it was revealed that the file from the magistrates’ court had still not reached the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. This was despite they indicating they wanted to plead guilty at the High Court.
    It was a situation that angered their attorney Pilgrim.
    “Imagine you go to a country and you plead guilty to weed, which is no longer the pariah that it used to be,” he told the court. “They just want to plead guilty, and I am not saying this is the prosecutor’s fault.
    “Our system is so beleaguered that we cannot get a man to say: ‘I am responsible. I want to do my time’. We cannot even do that,” he said.
    “What is it that would
    make whoever serious enough that they should get up off their respective haunches and do something for the benefit of the system? If it is that granting them personal bail will do that, then great. Let’s do that,” he said as he called the situation an “embarrassment”.
    “The judge should give these people personal bail and let them roam the streets of Barbados because we cannot prosecute them. We are incapable of prosecuting them.”
    Senior State Counsel Olivia Davis, who has conduct of the matter, said she had no choice but to wait until the documents were typed, signed and sent to her chambers – something over which she had no control.
    However, the judge stressed it was not fair for a prosecutor to have to be “begging a magistrates’ court to find out or begging the police to find out where is this file”.
    “That is foolishness . . . . Ignorance of the highest order. As if the prosecutor doesn’t have anything else to do. This has nothing to do with you, Ms Davis. You have tried your best.”
    Justice Worrell then noted the High Court had even tried to get the files out of the magistrates’ court by asking staff to work on weekends.
    “If you give them bail now it will be the worst thing on earth. We will hear they are nonnationals and they get bail but the court will say the reason for giving bail is ‘x y z’. . . . File the bail application and bring them,” he said and adjourned the matters until April 14. (HLE)

    Source: Nation

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  58. 🙂
    Made me think of the train in my basement.
    It has the bells and whistles and even lets off steam, but I know it is just atoy.

    Reply ↓

  60. LEGAL BIND
    Judge says she has been locked out of Supreme Court office
    By Maria Bradshaw mariabradshaw@nationnews. com
    A senior High Court judge is claiming she has been locked out of her office under conditions tantamount to a summary dismissal.
    Reports indicate that Justice Dr Sonia Richards, who has been a judge for the past 16 years, has not been able to gain access to her office located on the third floor of the Supreme Court Complex because the locks have been changed and the office was being occupied by Justice Westmin James, who was installed two weeks ago as a temporary judge.
    Swipe deactivated
    Reports further indicate that her electronic swipe has been deactivated and as a result, she was only able to gain entrance into the Supreme Court building last week with assistance from other court staff, including security personnel.
    The action has resulted in the 66-year-old judge, who is on pre-retirement leave and who had still been utilising her office until she officially retires in May, to seek legal advice.
    Her attorney, Queen’s Counsel Garth Patterson, has written to President The Most Honourable Dame Sandra Mason, and copied it to Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, Attorney General Dale Marshall and Chief Justice Sir Patterson Cheltenham, asking for the judge to be reinstated to her office, as well as unimpeded access to the Supreme Court building and monetary compensation as a result of the embarrassing action.
    When contacted about the situation yesterday, the Chief Justice told the Sunday Sun: “She never was and is not locked out and the judge is not in her room. I can attest to that.”
    Justice Richards was reluctant to speak and directed queries to her attorney.
    When reached, Patterson said: “I can confirm that I have been approached by Dr the Honourable Sonia Richards to represent her in connection with a matter related to her office as a judge, but having regard to the sensitivity of the matter and the honour and the dignity of the courts, I wouldn’t wish to comment further.”
    A highly-placed legal source said the situation had left staff at the court in shock.
    “This is the first time in living memory that we have had a situation where a judge has been basically locked out of office before they officially retire. The practice in Barbados is that judges have had access to their offices to complete judgements and other outstanding legal matters before they go on retirement. This does not bode well for the judiciary,” the source said.
    It is understood that LEGAL BIND
    Judge says she has been locked out of Supreme Court office
    By Maria Bradshaw mariabradshaw@nationnews. com
    A senior High Court judge is claiming she has been locked out of her office under conditions tantamount to a summary dismissal.
    Reports indicate that Justice Dr Sonia Richards, who has been a judge for the past 16 years, has not been able to gain access to her office located on the third floor of the Supreme Court Complex because the locks have been changed and the office was being occupied by Justice Westmin James, who was installed two weeks ago as a temporary judge.
    Swipe deactivated
    Reports further indicate that her electronic swipe has been deactivated and as a result, she was only able to gain entrance into the Supreme Court building last week with assistance from other court staff, including security personnel.
    The action has resulted in the 66-year-old judge, who is on pre-retirement leave and who had still been utilising her office until she officially retires in May, to seek legal advice.
    Her attorney, Queen’s Counsel Garth Patterson, has written to President The Most Honourable Dame Sandra Mason, and copied it to Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, Attorney General Dale Marshall and Chief Justice Sir Patterson Cheltenham, asking for the judge to be reinstated to her office, as well as unimpeded access to the Supreme Court building and monetary compensation as a result of the embarrassing action.
    When contacted about the situation yesterday, the Chief Justice told the Sunday Sun: “She never was and is not locked out and the judge is not in her room. I can attest to that.”
    Justice Richards was reluctant to speak and directed queries to her attorney.
    When reached, Patterson said: “I can confirm that I have been approached by Dr the Honourable Sonia Richards to represent her in connection with a matter related to her office as a judge, but having regard to the sensitivity of the matter and the honour and the dignity of the courts, I wouldn’t wish to comment further.”
    A highly-placed legal source said the situation had left staff at the court in shock.
    “This is the first time in living memory that we have had a situation where a judge has been basically locked out of office before they officially retire. The practice in Barbados is that judges have had access to their offices to complete judgements and other outstanding legal matters before they go on retirement. This does not bode well for the judiciary,” the source said.
    It is understood that Justice Richards began her pre-retirement leave at the beginning of February and was still performing the duties of a High Court judge as she continued to hear cases, render decisions and write judgements, and that her name also appeared on the daily court list.
    Sources pointed out that it was usually customary for judges to be given a two-year extension to complete their outstanding matters but she was only given one year.
    Sunday Sun
    investigations revealed that two weeks ago the judge received a directive requesting she return her swipe card and the keys to her chambers “as a matter of urgency”.
    Informed sources said Justice Richards responded to the email indicating that she was still a judge and utilising her office, and requested a meeting with the Chief Justice to discuss the matter.
    Personnel at the Registry said the new judge was sworn in last week and a memo circulated to other judges indicating his acting appointment.
    Sources further revealed that on April 12, when she attended the Whitepark, St Michael court, she was able to gain access to the underground parking with her swipe key, but could not access the court building, neither her office, and had to seek assistance from security personnel who informed her that the lock to her office had been changed.

    Source: Nation

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  61. Apologies for delays
    On two occasions between 2020 and last year, High Court Justice Dr Sonia Richards rendered apologies in two cases for the time it took for her to deliver her judgement.
    According to court records on November 30 last year, the day Barbados adopted republican status, in delivering judgement in the case of Matthew Holder and Sheron Holder, a 2013 civil suit, she apologised for the delay and suggested that a new directive which required judges to dispose of cases in six months, might contribute to the backlog of cases being further delayed.
    She pointed out that the since the decision in that case was reserved in 2017, “the court has delivered 39 written decisions. Of those 39 decisions, 24 of the cases were either reserved before this case, or were contemporaneous with this case, or were reserved within a few months of the close of this case. Generally, this court’s approach is to dispose of cases in order of reservation, with the oldest first in the queue. However, this approach cannot be applied to judgements with a six-month disposal limit. Such cases, of necessity, jump the queue”.
    Justice Richards added: “The court was called upon to review over 80 handwritten pages of oral evidence, with a myriad of filed documents and thick submissions. The last submission was filed on April 30, 2019. The length of the judgment is a reflection of the contractual context, and the extent of the evidence. Please accept my sincere apologies for my contribution to the delay in this matter.”
    In 2020 she also apologised for the lengthy delay in rendering her decision in the 2006 case of Marquita Butcher-Rayside vs Rayside Construction Ltd.
    In that instant, she stated: “This case was filed in 2006, and passed through the hands of various judges before being assigned to this court. It was ten years before the trial began in 2016 and concluded in March of 2017. The decision is delivered today after a three-year hiatus.
    “The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), as our
    apex court, has consistently urged the Barbados judiciary to issue judgements expeditiously. More recently, Parliament instituted a six-month time frame for judgments to be delivered. The failure to observe the six-month deadline exposes a judge to the possibility of disciplinary action.” Quoting a comment from now retired Justice David Hayton of the CCJ, she noted: “The Honourable Mr Justice Hayton reminded us that ‘judges should strive to deliver judgements within three months normally or in complex cases within six months, though it is appreciated that an unfortunate backlog of judgments waiting to be drafted may delay matters for some time’. He was referring to the exhortation of Saunders JCCJ, as he then was, in Reid v. Reid [2008]. “Hayton . . . made a most astute observation that precisely describes the circumstances of this court, that is, ‘an unfortunate backlog of judgments waiting to be drafted’. This backlog was built up over a number of years of continuous trials; and frequently with four out of five working days dedicated to trials which included interlocutory applications and cost hearings. While this backlog accrued, the head of the judiciary, counsel and the Barbados Bar Association were at all times aware of the precarious position of this court. No significant off-Bench time was ever offered as the backlog continued to escalate.
    “Add to this mix the fact that this court was without the services of a dedicated judicial assistant between June 2019 and May 2020. The court appreciates the frustration of parties and their counsel who continue to await outstanding judgments from this court. I hereby tender my sincere apologies for any contribution this court made to the delays in this matter.” (MB)

    Source: Nation

    Reply ↓

  62. Thanks for posting the ” Legal Bind ” and ” Apologies for delays ” articles.

    I read both articles. Reading is good for a 70 year old.

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  63. Justice Richards puts her case

    The following statement has been submitted by Queen’s Counsel Garth Patterson on behalf of High Court judge Justice Dr Sonia Richards.
    Justice Richards commenced pre-retirement leave on February 2, 2022. Her retirement as a judge of the High Court becomes effective on May 16, 2022. In the meantime, Justice Richards has continued to perform the functions and the duties of her office, while on leave, including Zoom hearings, administrative meetings and judgment writing.
    On Wednesday, April 6, 2022, Justice Richards received an email from the executive officer to the Honourable Chief Justice, which stated: “I am directed by the Hon. Chief Justice to request the return of your swipe card and the keys to your chambers as a matter of urgency. A new acting High Court judge is being sworn in. Kindly have your protection officer return them this afternoon to the secretary to the Chief Justice.”
    Responded by email
    Justice Richards responded by email directed to the Chief Justice on the same day, saying: “I am unable to return the keys and swipe card as you requested. As far as I am aware, I am still employed as a High Court judge and I continue to perform duties as such. Additionally, I have not vacated my office. I am still using the office space allocated to me, and there are files, books and personal items in the office space.”
    Justice Richards also expressed her concern that she was “being treated as though I have been summarily dismissed from office for some form of misconduct; and then denied access to my office. I am not aware that this course of action has been sanctioned by the relevant constitutional authority”.
    [She] confirmed that the email to the Chief Justice had been received. However, she received no response to it.
    On Tuesday, April 12, 2022, Justice Richards attended the Supreme Court building with a view to conducting business from the office that is assigned to her. From her initial appointment as a judge of the High Court in April 2006, Justice Richards was always assigned her own office space. Indeed, she has occupied her office in the current building from the time the courts were relocated there. She has never been required to share office space with anyone or to remove herself to accommodate anyone.
    On attempting to gain entry to the building, her security swipe access card was rejected, and she was denied entry. She gained admittance with assistance from another person. On attempting thereafter to gain admittance to her office, she realised that her key would not unlock the door. A call was made to security and eventually Justice Richards was let into her office by a security guard, who informed her that the lock to her office door had been changed. Justice Richards had never been previously notified that her security swipe card had been deactivated or the locks changed.
    On entering the office, Justice Richards immediately realised that another person had been put into occupation, as there were several files on her desk that she had not placed there. A few minutes later, a protection officer opened the office door and indicated that he was looking for the judge who was in the office the previous day. He revealed that he was the protection officer that was assigned to the new judge and thereafter removed himself to await the arrival of that judge.
    Justice Richards was never consulted about giving permission for the sharing of her office
    space with any other person.
    Later that morning, Justice Richards requested through the Registrar a key to her office and the reactivation of her security swipe access card. The Registrar indicated that she would discuss it with the Chief Justice, and a few minutes later Justice Richards was informed that the Chief Justice would “facilitate”. Justice Richards understood this to mean that she would be provided with a key and that her swipe card would be reactivated.
    Card rejected
    The following day, April 13, 2022, Justice Richards again attempted to access the Supreme Court building and, once more, her swipe access card was rejected. She was eventually admitted with assistance and her office unlocked by a security guard. Justice Richards is unaware of any disciplinary process that may have been initiated against her which would have led to her being denied access to her workplace. Justice Richards, on two subsequent occasions, again attempted to enter the building and her office and was met with the same result.
    In an article that appeared in the April 17, 2022 Sunday Sun, the following statement was attributed to the Honourable Chief Justice allegedly in response to the reports that Justice Richards had been locked out: “She never was and is not locked out and the judge is not in her room. I can attest to that.”
    Justice Richards categorically denies any suggestion that the events outlined above . . . did not occur . . . .
    On April 21, 2022, a further letter was dispatched by Justice Richards’ attorneys to, among others, the Honourable Attorney General seeking compensation for the damage to Justice Richards’ reputation arising from the events described.
    Justice Richards looks forward to a thorough investigation of these matters and is confident that she will be completely vindicated.

    Source: Nation

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  64. Do you remember after the factory broke down for two weeks we were told that this year crop was ahead of where it was last year. This is possible.

    Now we have that being locked out of a building (twice), being unable to unlock your door and getting assistance from several individuals:to enter the building and your office is nothing more than an active imagination….
    “the Honourable Chief Justice allegedly in response to the reports that Justice Richards had been locked out: “She never was and is not locked out and the judge is not in her room. I can attest to that.”

    I have to read 1984 again. Eventually, they will proclaim her mad.

    Whoever is coordinating the government response is very wicked and nasty. But worse than that, these stories show that our leadership thinks its supporters are gullible and without sense.

    Reply ↓

  65. Minor correction for TheO..
    “But worse than that, these stories show that our leadership KNOWS its supporters are gullible and without sense.”

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  66. Have these ten new judges made a difference. Stats, please.
    BT
    “On the day observed as the start of the legal year, Smith-Millar told Barbados TODAYthe association would continue to closely monitor the situation at the court and the impact of ten new judges on the number of outstanding cases languishing in the judicial system. “We are extremely pleased that we have more judges on board to deal with the backlog as well as being able to spread the load perhaps a bit better now that they are more of them and bring court matters to a faster conclusion. That’s really our outlook on it. We hope that we can work with them,”

    Reply ↓

    • This is where the BBA should be helping the public by giving us the information. The public is vested in an a well functioning court system.


  67. Judge: Delays in justice system make society fearful

    by HEATHER-LYNN EVANSON heatherlynevanson@nationnews.com

    SUBSTANTIAL DELAYS in the judicial system as accused wait years to be tried could have the trickle-down effect of making citizens “feel unsafe, skittish and uncooperative”.
    “Justice is denied every day both to those accused and those who fall victim to crime in this society and, furthermore, to the society at large, which has to dwell in the abyss of our state of affairs,” Justice Carlisle Greaves said.
    The judge’s comments came as he dealt with an 11-year-old matter in the No. 3 Supreme Court.
    Sherwin Ambrose Brathwaite, of 1st Avenue, Hoyte’s Village, St James; Akeem Jamal Alleyne, of Forde’s Tenantry, Silver Hill, Christ Church; as well as Dwayne Ricardo Gibson and Devere George Junior Small, both of Silver Hill, Christ Church, were back before the judge after pleading guilty to entering Silver Fox Arcade on January 13, 2011, and stealing $20 340, an external hard drive and a power supply belonging to Palace Amusements Ltd and at the time with a firearm.
    They had also confessed to entering the arcade on the same date and stealing a cell phone, a wallet and $450 belonging to Michael Bramble and at the time had a firearm.
    Senior State Counsel Neville Watson appeared for the prosecution, while Brathwaite was represented by attorney Lesley Cargill-Straker; Alleyne by Queen’s Counsel Michael Lashley and attorney Sade Harris; Small by Meshach Thornhill and Gibson by Ajamu Boardi.
    The judge fined each offender $5 000.
    Alleyne was ordered to pay $2 000 of the fine forthwith and the remainder in two weeks or two years in prison, while Gibson, Small and Brathwaite were ordered to pay their fines in two weeks or spend two years in default.
    Each man was ordered to return to court on May 6, with their receipts, to confirm that the fines were paid.
    Justice Greaves said a major concern in the case for him was the substantial delay in bringing the matter to trial.
    “The delay in our court system is legendary,” he said.
    “A society which notes that criminal battles are going to be dealt with promptly and those who offend it are dealt the justice they deserve and those who are offended receive the justice they merit becomes a confident society, the members of which cooperate with legal authorities when necessary. They will be less fearful when they are required to offer assistance to bring to justice those who should be brought to justice,” he said.
    “But a society having to dwell in an environment of substantial delay, while accused are left to roam for long periods, begins to feel unsafe, skittish and uncooperative and fear for their welfare.”
    The judge noted that if the judicial system was going to work properly for the benefit of everyone, then justice must be speedy, efficient and just.
    “When delay is as substantial as this,” the judge said as he referred to the matter involving the four men, “it presents courts with a significant dilemma when it comes to the issue of sentencing”.
    He said the four men had committed a serious offence but each appeared to have subsequently become a law-abiding citizen.
    “People may do bad things at some time in their lives and, over the years thereafter, they might continue to do bad things. They might become worse or they might do no further bad things and they become better.”
    The judge, however, noted it was of concern to the court that the firearm used in the offence had not been recovered.

    Source: Nation

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  72. Attorney to give address today
    Money laundering accused attorney Ernest Winston Jackman yesterday begged for more time to prepare his closing address, saying he was unable to do so because there was “confusion” with clients in his office.
    He will now address the jury today.
    The attorney of Wiltshire Plantation House, St Philip, is on trial for stealing $678 414.75 belonging to HEJ Ltd, between June 23, 2006, and March 5, 2007.
    He is also accused of engaging in money laundering in that he disposed of sums totalling $678 414.75 being the proceeds of crime.
    Conducting own defence
    Principal State counsel Krystal Delaney is prosecuting, while Jackman is conducting his own defence.
    Jackman was scheduled to address the jury in the No. 5 Supreme Court yesterday.
    However, when the matter was called, Jackman told the court: “I thought it would be easy to prepare something but there was a lot of confusion in the office with clients.”
    As a result, he asked for “a little more time” to prepare his closing.
    Justice Pamela Beckles then granted him an adjournment until today.
    A jury of six women and three women has been hearing the evidence.


    Source: Nation

    Reply ↓

  74. New York (CNN)Disgraced attorney Michael Avenatti was sentenced to four years in prison for stealing nearly $300,000 from his former client, adult film actress Stormy Daniels.

    District Judge Jesse Furman said Avenatti’s conduct was “so brazen and egregious” adding, he “took advantage of a vulnerable victim given her unorthodox career and somewhat unorthodox beliefs.”
    Avenatti was convicted in February of one count of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft. He faced as much as 20 years on the wire fraud charge and a mandatory two-year sentence for aggravated identity theft.

    Reply ↓

  75. QC raps 3-year delay in case
    by BARRY ALLEYNE barryalleyne@nationnews.com

    THE WHEELS OF JUSTICE in Barbados’ Court of Appeal are still turning too slowly, says prominent criminal defence attorney Andrew Pilgrim.
    The Queen’s Counsel is bemoaning the three years it took for that court to reach a decision for his client, Jamar DeWayne Bynoe, one of the Campus Trendz killers.
    Bynoe was sentenced to death six years ago for his September 3, 2010 actions, and yesterday while his convictions were affirmed, the court ordered that he be sent back to the High Court for a fresh sentence.
    “My main concern here is not about the resentencing; that is neither here nor there. It’s about the delay to get this decision. This is ridiculous,” Pilgrim told the MIDWEEK NATION. “People always say the CCJ (Caribbean Court of Justice) is critical of us, but we have to be critical of ourselves. Any decision that takes this long is going to be called under serious scrutiny because it makes you wonder what have you been doing all this time when you should have been deciding.”
    Pilgrim said he had filed Bynoe’s appeal back in July 2019.
    “It’s really unfortunate that it took this long. The Court of Appeal puts itself in a difficult position when it takes this long to give a decision about when a person should be in prison or sentenced to hang, or not. When they have a decision that affects all these things and they take this long to give it, it implies that you’re going to give a decision that they should stay in prison.
    “I wrote the Court of Appeal for bail for my client about two months ago, and I believe as a result of that application, this decision is now given. One wonders if I did not apply for bail for him, if they would not have put themselves in position to give that decision. It certainly looks that way,” the senior lawyer added.
    However, in response, Attorney General Dale Marshall told this newspaper that the authorities continued to work diligently on the judicial backlog.
    “There is absolutely no doubt that for years now the legal system has been plagued by delays and there still remains a problem of backlog. In the last four years since coming to Government, we have implemented a number of major initiatives, including increasing the size of the bench, and especially the criminal bench, to break the back of this problem,” he said.
    “I can say that the delays of which counsel complained in the Court of Appeal relate to an earlier period, and the court as currently constituted has taken a decision to systematically deal with those cases to get them through the system.
    “Regrettably, indications are that there are about ten cases in the Court of Appeal which will require rehearing, but that will be left to the current court. I am assured by the Chief Justice, Sir Patterson Cheltenham,
    that there are no appeals that have been filed in recent times that are languishing in the system and that delays in the Court of Appeal will no longer be a feature of that court.”
    Marshall added that in terms of the High Court, COVID-19 presented serious challenges to having criminal cases being heard, since the jury system ground to a halt during the height of the pandemic, and there were also times when prisoners could not be brought down to court.
    “In the face of these challenges, I cannot help but compliment our five judges on the criminal bench who worked tirelessly, even when there could be no jury trials, to effectively dispose of a large number of criminal cases.”
    Formerly of Headley’s Land, Bank Hall, St Michael, Bynoe was found guilty in July 2016 of the murder of six women – Shanna Griffith, Kelly-Ann Welch, Pearl Cornelius, Kellishaw Olivierre, Nikita Belgrave and Tiffany Harding – in the Campus Trendz blaze on Tudor Street, The City.
    He was ordered to be hanged, but in 2018 the CCJ ruled that Barbados’ mandatory death penalty amounted to cruel and unusual punishment, in the historic Jabari Nervais And Dwayne Severin vs The Queen case.
    Through his attorney, Bynoe had appealed on nine grounds but they were challenged by Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Alliston Seale. Yesterday, Justice of Appeal Margaret Reifer said the original Court of Appeal panel had found no merit in the nine grounds, but since the mandatory death sentence had been removed, the sentence would be vacated and the court would be remitting Bynoe’s matter back to the High Court.
    Pilgrim confirmed his intention to appeal to the CCJ.

    Source: Nation

    Reply ↓

  77. @ Hants
    What disbar convicted lawyers what??!!
    This is just the usual bull shit that is to be expected from an profession where it has become undeniable that stealing from clients is ENDEMIC.
    ANYONE who hires a lawyer who has already been convicted of thief, DESERVES what they will get.

    The REAL issue, and what the Bar Association SHOULD be addressing, is protecting the public from those lawyers NOT YET CONVICTED, but from whom the public needs protection.
    The way to do this is to be PROACTIVE with complaints received, be transparent with investigations, and to POLICE the ongoing activities of their peers.

    The lotta shiite PR talk has become overbearing …..

    Reply ↓

  79. Defence attorney asks for suspended sentence

    THE COURT has been urged to give convicted attorney Ernest Winston Jackman a suspended sentence and the opportunity to repay the remainder of more than $600 000 he stole from a client 15 years ago.
    “Whatever sentence is passed should be to enable him that opportunity to make good that balance. I am asking the court to give him that opportunity, to give him a suspended sentence with some alternative to repay the balance, if it is possible, anything that would enable him to be able to continue to practise. And if he makes good, obviously an opportunity to clear his record,” said defence attorney Sally Comissiong.
    “Don’t brush him with the same brush as all the other attorneys. He has made a mistake and he is trying to repay,” she added.
    Comissiong’s submission on sentence came when Jackman reappeared in the No. 5 Supreme Court yesterday.
    Jackman, 67, of Wiltshire Plantation House, Wiltshire, St Philip, was found guilty of stealing $678 414.75, between June 23, 2006
    and March 5, 2007, belonging to HEJ Ltd.
    The attorney was also convicted of directly engaging in transactions totalling $678 414.75, between June 23, 2006 and October 18, 2011, being the proceeds of crime.
    Comissiong said he had so far repaid $392 000.
    She said Jackman had a “lucrative civil practice” and had been in the profession for over 40 years.
    “Given an opportunity he should be able to make his payments shortly. He is ready and willing to repay. He just needs that opportunity to do so,” she told the court.
    She said she had hoped to have a cheque for the remaining balance of $286 414 “but there have been a lot of stumbles, but he has made an effort.
    “Yes, he had been infelicitous in terms of having used the money. Unfortunately, the venture which he had intended that would be able to repay the money, unfortunately it fell through and he found himself holding the stick which had brought him before the court,” Comissiong said.
    “But I dare to say his case is different. I talk subject to correction, but I don’t think any of the other lawyers who appeared before these courts, any of them made any effort at all to repay any of the money,” she submitted.
    The defence counsel also touched on Jackman’s trial.
    She said he was not familiar with criminal procedure and that was why he had not cross-examined any of the prosecution’s witnesses.
    Comissiong added if he had defence counsel, that attorney would have been able to bring out that Jackman had repaid some of the money he stole.
    “It was not his intention to deprive the complainant of his money,” she said, adding that Jackman’s actions had caused him embarrassment and humiliation.

    Source: Nation

    Reply ↓

  80. Lawyer willing to repay the money

    CONVICTED ATTORNEY Ernest Winston Jackman says he is willing to repay the outstanding balance of the money he stole from HEJ Ltd more than ten years ago.
    But to do so, he said, he needed to be out of prison.
    “It is my desire to pay the balance of the money to the complainant,” he said, as he begged the No. 5 Supreme Court to impose a non-custodial sentence on him.
    “I respect and accept the verdict of the jury and I tried not to waste the court’s time. However, it is not possible to be able to do it from where I am and I request that I be allowed the scope and opportunity to secure the balance to the complainant,” he said.
    Jackman, 67, of Wiltshire Plantation House, Wiltshire, St Philip, was back before Justice Pamela Beckles after he was found guilty of stealing $678 414.75, between June 23, 2006 and March 5, 2007, belonging to HEJ Ltd.
    The lawyer was also convicted of directly engaging in transactions totalling $678 414.75, between June 23, 2006 and October 18, 2011, being the proceeds of crime.
    Attorney Sally Comissiong appeared as amicus for Jackman, while Acting Director of Public Prosecutions Krystal Delaney appeared for the state.
    Justice Pamela Beckles will deliver her sentence on November 9.
    Jackman began by saying he was both “embarrassed and ashamed” to have found
    himself before the court and that he “deeply regretted” his actions.
    He added he wanted to “sincerely apologise” to complainant John Huggins, but said the convictions resulted from “a transaction that broke down”.
    “There was no deliberate act on my part to deprive HEJ of his transaction. It was a transaction that fell through,” he said as he maintained he was not trying to justify his actions.
    “My actions have been and continue to be a source of shame for me. I did make efforts to repay the balance but I was unable to do so because of some difficulties. I am now confident I will be able to do so.”
    Jackman begged for leniency and mercy as he asked that the court “impose a non-custodial sentence in the circumstances”.
    His character witness, Lawson Yearwood, described the convicted attorney as reliable, forthright in his dealings and “someone I consider trustworthy”.
    “I never had any reason to be distrustful of Mr Jackman,” he said, adding news of Jackman’s charges and convictions were a surprise to him.
    “But being someone who has dealt with financial matters I understand the difficulties one sometimes faces and I, therefore, while acknowledging there have been infelicities on Mr Jackman’s part, I don’t think there was any intention to deliberately deprive,” the witness said.
    Yearwood said he understood Jackman had repaid some of the money and this
    was “a tribute to his good character”.
    “I would want to say that I hoped that Mr Jackman’s efforts to correct the problems which have been caused would redound to his benefit in relation to any decision of the court,” he added.
    When cross-examined by Delaney, the retired banker admitted he would be upset if someone had stolen the nest egg he had been putting away for his retirement.
    “But there are circumstances which might have caused that person to have taken the actions they have taken which might taint my view,” he said.

    Source: Nation

    Reply ↓

  81. Court needs to send a strong message, says Acting DPP

    ERNEST JACKMAN should get eight to nine years for stealing John Huggins’ retirement nest egg and using it as his “own personal piggy bank”.
    So said Acting Director of Public Prosecutions Krystal Delaney, as she dismissed suggestions that the convicted lawyer had willingly repaid a portion of the money he stole from the elderly man.
    “This is a significant breach of trust and the threshold for a custodial sentence has been crossed. A suspended sentence is not appropriate in the circumstances of this case. An immediate custodial sentence is not only merited but is necessary and warranted in this case,” Delaney told the No. 5 Supreme Court.
    “This money was his retirement
    plan and he had to make alternative plans when his money was stolen. That was a significant aggravating factor.
    “When Mr Jackman chose to use Mr Huggins’ money as his own personal piggy bank, I can’t see how that could be a transaction that broke down,” Delaney declared.
    “He used Mr Huggins’ money as if it was his own money. It seems to me he decided Mr Huggins had money and he used it like it was his own. He had no right using it in the first place,” the state prosecutor told the court.
    Delaney added that Jackman’s part repayment was as a result of a default judgment handed down by a civil court.
    “There was no great realisation that he had to do the right thing. It was the court ordering him to repay,” she said as she suggested the starting point for his theft conviction should be eight to nine years.
    She asked Justice Pamela Beckles not to order compensation in light of the civil court’s judgment against Jackman.
    The prosecutor further submitted the starting point for the money laundering offence should be ten years.
    “The court needs to send a message that this sort of offence will not be tolerated,” Delaney said.
    Justice Pamela Beckles will deliver her sentence on November 9.

    Source: Nation

    Reply ↓

  82. Have you ever misread something and gave yourself a laugh… I read “to repay” as “to enjoy” and had to read it twice.”
    “THE COURT has been urged to give convicted attorney Ernest Winston Jackman a suspended sentence and the opportunity to repay ̶e̶n̶j̶o̶y̶ the remainder of more than $600 000 he stole from a client 15 years ago.”

    Obviously the man has a good lawyer. I want a lawyer that is willing to admit he/she may be telling a lie (“subject to correction”)
    “But I dare to say his case is different. I talk subject to correction, but I don’t think any of the other lawyers who appeared before these courts, any of them made any effort at all to repay any of the money,”

    Reply ↓

  83. Let me commend the blogmaster for his approach in handling the other matter.

    Silly me. To be honest, I was not aware of the passion that he felt on those issues as I thought he was just phoning it in. He may be more measured than some of us, does not wear his emotions on his sleeve, but the concern is genuine.

    I must also agree with Lorenzo ( Lawd, help me), The blogmaster needs to be careful when these matters come to his attention.

    A phrase to keep in mind “No good deed goes ununished”. Keep up the good work.

    Reply ↓

  85. Laugh of the day

    CONVICTED ATTORNEY Ernest Winston Jackman says he is willing to repay the outstanding balance of the money he stole from HEJ Ltd more than ten years ago.
    But to do so, he said, he needed to be out of prison
    +++++++++++
    He had the opportunity to repay the money during the ten years when he was out of prison, now he wants out of jail so he can repay the funds.

    At least he has some contrition for his actions not like a couple of the most recent who have denied, denied, denied, one even had character witnesses appearing on her behalf, and the other who was suffering from early onset “dementia” as he couldn’t remember where the money had gone.

    Time for a lawyers’ wing at Dodds, may I suggest “Sticky fingers Chambers”

    Reply ↓

  86. TheO,

    That is what I have been trying to tell you all for a while. Yet the slings shots and arrows keep coming.

    Re Ernest Jackman, I wonder what his victim would prefer. However, I wonder how Jackman intends to earn the funds for repayment, considering that no-one would hire him in Barbados as an attorney ever again and he is 67 years of age. I wonder if he has property he can sell and why it would not have already been sold.

    Reply ↓

  88. Murder accused getting $95 000

    by HEATHER-LYNN EVANSON
    heatherlynevanson@nationnews.com
    THE STATE’S CRIMINAL PROSECUTORIAL ARM has been lambasted by a civil court judge for a delay of nearly 15-years, four of which were spent conducting a preliminary inquiry, in an accused man’s murder matter.
    Justice Cicely Chase called the delay in murder accused Larry Patrick Agard’s matter “unreasonable” and “unconstitutional”.
    “The state ought to have vigorously pursued the preliminary inquiry as speedily as possible and not portray what seemingly comes across as a lackadaisical approach to justice and the gathering of evidence,” she said yesterday.
    “Firm control was in the hands of the court at all times and accused ought not to have been allowed at any point in time to prolong the start of the preliminary inquiry or to seek to prolong the preliminary inquiry while seeking representation,” the judge noted.
    “How can any reasonable court or officer, tasked with administering justice, opine that it is just and reasonable and equitable for an accused individual who may very well be discharged at the conclusion of the preliminary inquiry, to be subjected to committal proceedings which lasted four years?
    Unacceptable
    “Four years to complete a preliminary inquiry is totally unacceptable, given that there were physical resources available for the preliminary inquiry to be conducted expeditiously and especially since the preliminary inquiry was riddled with delay from its inception to conclusion,” she said.
    She has also suggested criminal matters be heard in at least six months from the date of charge.
    “This court is of the opinion there must be an implementation of timelines – for example, six months per each stage, to be strictly followed by all parties involved in the administration of justice,” Justice Chase said.
    “Such timelines would be particularly useful in the criminal jurisdiction of both the Magistrates’ Courts and High Courts. These proposed guidelines would ensure that delay is diminished from arrest or detention to release, or alternatively to arrest, charge, trial and sentencing or acquittal. The proposed timelines would also ensure the speedy disposal of criminal matters and encourage those involved in the administration of justice to adopt a practical and efficient approach to the handling of criminal matters,” she said.
    As a result, the judge not only awarded Agard a total of $95 000 in damages but she also sent his 2006 murder charge back to the High Court for it to be dismissed.
    Her comments came as she gave
    her decision in a civil suit brought by Queen’s Counsel Larry Smith on behalf of Agard.
    Agard, whose last address was given as Olton Road, Carrington Village, St Michael, is accused of murdering Marville John on June 8, 2006.
    Agard had contended the Attorney General breached his rights to a hearing within a reasonable time and he had asked the civil court to release him from his murder charge and order the state to pay him costs and damages for breaching those constitutional rights.
    He was arrested and charged in 2006. The preliminary inquiry commenced in January 2007 and concluded in 2011. The matter was then committed to the High Court for trial but is yet to be heard.
    No reasonable explanation
    “The time was not only unreasonable from charge to commencement and conclusion of the preliminary inquiry, but also from committal of [Agard] to the High Court to the filing of the constitutional motion,” Justice Chase noted.
    “[Agard’s] preliminary inquiry lasted four years. Furthermore, between 2011 and 2020 the state continued to engage in further delay of the disposal of the charge by failing to try [Agard] shortly after he was committed to stand trial at the Assizes, with no reasonable explanation being given for such a delay.”
    She held that Agard’s constitutional rights, as afforded by Section 11 (a) of the Constitution, were infringed as a result of the state’s failure to afford him a speedy resolution of his criminal matter. That failure, the judge declared, resulted in undue uncertainty of the outcome with possible sanction in relation to the pending criminal charge.
    She also held that the infringement of Agard’s constitutional rights subjected him to rumour, gossip, stigmatisation, loss of privacy, stress and anxiety resulting from his family, social and work life.
    She ordered the state to pay Agard $85 000 in compensation for the breach of his rights, in addition to $10 000 for vindicatory damages.
    Justice Chase stressed that the lives, liberty and security of people were to be protected by all agents of the state.
    “By ensuring that the life, liberty and security of an individual, an accused, are protected, the state’s agents must actively engage in case management and must ensure that there is a speedy disposal of criminal matters from charge to trial and even to appeal of sentence,” she said.
    Her comments echoed those of Justice Carlisle Greaves, who has repeatedly expressed displeasure with the slow pace of getting matters out of the Magistrates’ Court and on for trial, as well as the associated backlog.
    He recently questioned why, if the scourge of firearms was as serious as social commentators said it was, it would take six years to get a simple possession matter before the High Court.
    He has said the remedy was not for the courts to keep accused in custody for inordinate lengths of time while waiting on files from the police or for matters to get out of the Magistrates’ Courts.
    “It cannot be sufficient to charge a man but not produce the files,” Justice Greaves had said.

    Source: Nation

    Reply ↓

  90. https://barbadostoday.bb/2022/09/03/govt-to-appeal-payouts-granted-to-former-accused-for-constitutional-breaches/

    This guy has made so many mistakes that I lost track of them.

    The big joke is these mistakes cost the people and the GoB of the Rob money. Wasn’t there something that he failed to appeal or that he appealed and lost which the government had to make a payout on?

    Lawyers probably see his threat as the promised of a second payday coming their way.

    –xx–
    From BT (same article)
    “One of the challenges that we face is that we have a very small criminal bar. There are a few specific lawyers who specialise and who are most sought after in criminal cases. There are very important criminal cases that cannot be heard simply because those lawyers are already involved in other cases that are either pending or scheduled. There is a murder case that for me is of vital importance in Barbados but because of the unavailability of the lawyer, time and time again it gets moved down,”

    https://barbadosbarassociation.com/members_directory.cfm

    I believe that there are over 105 criminal lawyers (mistakenly referred to as Criminal Defense Attorneys).

    Is that too few criminal lawyers? It appears that clients select from a small subset of these criminal lawyers.

    Can you imagine being in the B group, getting a case and then a large settlement. As days of plenty may be few and far between, you have to keep the client’s money in your possession.

    Reply ↓

  91. I take no delight in separating facts from hot air
    https://barbadostoday.bb/2022/09/03/top-cop-relatives-helping-to-move-guns-from-one-jurisdiction-to-another/

    From BT
    “In addition to the overseas activity, what has been discovered is that family members of persons who reside in the island are getting onboard now and facilitating the movement of firearms from one jurisdiction to our jurisdiction and that is [of] some concern to us.

    “That is something that must be called out, something that must be highlighted and action taken against, because once we identify those persons then our partners will work with us and we will bring that situation under control,” Boyce said during a press conference on Friday afternoon at the police’s Roebuck Street headquarters.

    **** What is he saying here?
    Is he saying that if the criminals did not have relatives, the problem would be solved.?
    Is he saying that if we had fewer criminals, the problem would be solved be solved?
    Crime families and families participating in crime is a part of the real world. He needs to tackle the problems confronting the police force and put aside the wishful thinking.

    From BT
    I must say that on a daily basis we are recovering firearms. Currently we are at 75 firearms in recovery and when we compare that to just 36 or so that were recovered last year that is a tremendous divide between last year’s recovery and this year’s recovery.

    “So our inputs, our tactics are working in terms of recovery of firearms and that is something that is ongoing and we intend to continue that for a very, very long time,” Boyce said.

    *** What is he saying here? Stop the victory lap.
    Reductio ad absurdum.
    Let us assume that one year there are 360oo illegal guns and he recovered 36. The next year he recovers 75? On the surface he doubled the number of guns captured, but the problem has been made worse as there are a few more thousand guns floating around. Stop beating your chest and taking a victory lap.

    From BT
    “In terms of persons who are getting engaged in this firearms issue, what we discovered is that they are persons who are well known to each other; persons who would have gone to school together, persons who as we would say, pitched marbles together, travelled on school buses together, these are the persons who are against each other’s throats.

    *** Hey! Guy, this should be a positive for the police.
    Try to get a member of one team to rat out the other team (bet you didn’t think of that … you are welcome), Be glad they are turning on each other and not the general public.

    From BT
    “Acting Assistant Commissioner of Police, David Griffith also noted that the same firearm had been used in more than one shooting incident.

    Boyce said the police would also be paying extra attention to the island’s ports of entry to ensure that illegal firearms could not pass through undetected.”

    ***Brilliant!
    You are getting it.
    A gun can be fired more than once.
    Some of these guns are coming through our legal ports of entry.
    It took a few years, but we are making progress.

    Reply ↓

  92. ” There is a murder case that for me is of vital importance in Barbados but because of the unavailability of the lawyer, time and time again it gets moved down,”

    WHICH CASE AND WHICH LAWYER ?

    Reply ↓

  93. @ TheOGazerts,

    If you choose to retire in Barbados. you could acquire a ” guttaperk “and 2 big dogs.

    If you need a demonstration on how to use a ” guttaperk ” check ” Yoki Sturrup ” on YouTube.

    Reply ↓

  94. Attorney Pile out of prison
    ATTORNEY VONDA PILE is out of prison. Reports indicate that Pile was released from Dodds Prison late last week after serving a three-year jail sentence.
    However, her troubles are far from over as she faces another theft charge.
    It was back in June, 2019, that Pile was found guilty by a 7-2 majority jury verdict of stealing $191 416.39 (US$96 008.22) from former client Anstey King between April 29, 2009, and October 26, 2010. The money was for the purchase of land.
    Justice Pamela Beckles sentenced Pile to three years in prison, less 94 days. She was, however, released on bail pending an appeal but after a year later the Court of Appeal affirmed her conviction and sent her back to prison to serve the remainder of her sentence.
    However, a defiant Pile filed for special leave to take the matter before the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).
    That court also rejected her application, finding that “there is no realistic possibility that a potentially serious miscarriage of justice may have occurred, and that given the proposed grounds of appeal no point of law of general public importance has been raised . . . . The application for special leave to appeal is refused”.
    Pile, a 30-year veteran of the legal fraternity, who maintained her innocence, was accused of stealing the money from her client which was part of a larger amount for the purchase of land at Maxwell, Christ Church.
    The complainant had sent the deposit and purchase money to Pile but when he came to Barbados and saw the land he said it was not the plot that he had agreed to buy and asked for his money back. Pile returned some of the funds.
    Last year while Pile was still serving that sentence she was committed to the High Court on another theft charge when she appeared in the District “A” Magistrates’ Court.
    This time she is accused of stealing $205 481, between January 11, 2007,
    and March 16, 2011, being the proceeds of a Royal Bank of Canada cheque payable to Patricia Hall. (MB)

    Source: Nation

    Reply ↓

    • This is absolute madness. This woman should be pernamently disbarred from the legal profession. If convicted she should deservedly entitled to 10 – 15 years in prison and all her possessions, assets seized and returned to the claimant.


    • What is interesting is that the conviction does not automatically debar her or any lawyer for that matter. There is a separate process the Bar has to bring.


    • Really!… One would think that the Law Society would have covered up this loophole in its constitution to deter lawyers from the abuse and misuse of clients funds. Mindful enough where imperiling the financial welfare of clients who seek his /her representation can be insured. The frequency of similar lawyer /client theft is known by the Law society and not closely policing this growing trend and problem is repulsive.
      Someone asks me ” does free legal education give rise to some undeserved?”…..some of these folks are entrusted with large sums of money. I am still pondering my answer…. if a self financed law cert would have separated the tares from the wheat. Years ago we never had this, It was unknown and abominable to occur………then again, there was no free lawyer education in those times.


  95. @ David
    Would a panel of Bushy Park (no pun intended) enthusiasts tek way the license of another Bushy Part regular who got themselves caught speeding…?

    If wunna start that shiite we will only have three lawyers left in Barbados..
    (well two now, since a recent change.. LOL ha ha ).

    Reply ↓

    • @Bush Tea

      This issue is linked to too many lawyers accepted by an adoring and passive electorate? Who to blame again?


    • Solution….give them bushtea daily, tie the bush around them and hope it purges their dishonesty and fraudulent behaviour


  96. ” does free legal education give rise to some undeserved?”

    Who are the undeserved? That is where we part company. Taken to a logical then this could be seen as advocating only the rich and powerful are deserving. If you are poor, you need not apply.
    You will find that thieves come in all shapes, sizes, colors, ethnicity, financial condition ….

    Reply ↓

    • My references were to those with unlawfu/illegal tendancies. The Word “undeserved” Was not referring to poor and unfortunate. That was definitely not the intention of the writer to refer to poor or unfortunate applicants. Rich folks can also be undeserves. Undeserved does not mean the impoverished. as you have thought. I could have used another word “unmerited” My statement did not advocate the rich and powerful as deserving…..not even remotely.. The point in that statement may have been missed and thats understandable.


  97. @Grantl
    Thank you. I now offer you a semi-apology.

    I had a very good idea of what you meant, but chose to reply that way. Why?

    Though free education was given to all, the word free can trigger a strange response in some. They would ignore the rich that benefited and focus on the poor that did. Some have the opinion that the poor are undeserving.

    Forgive me for torturing your phrase

    Reply ↓

    • no problem…. but thanks for your interjection, it encourages me to communicate issues with more clarity and lucidity.


    • …..and no money was recovered……he probably has securely tucked away or transferred to a friend temporally.. crooked bastard


  99. What is sinful and shameful is that we go through the motions of a trial and the money is never recovered.

    I strongly believe that if the end game is the lawyer gets to keep his/her ill-gotten loot, then we should end having these farcical trials which mislead victims/unfortunates

    Reply ↓

  100. @ TheO
    Be reasonable.

    What you are missing, is the simple FACT that ANY attempt to ‘follow the money’ of ANY lawyer bout here, opens a Pandora’s box of epic proportions which, EVEN IN Brassbados, would end up with serious overcrowding at Dodds.
    in particular, do not expect that commonsense actions related to FAIR RESTITUTION to innocent clients will be forthcoming any time soon…
    That would start a dirtball rolling from Mount Hillaby all the way to WhitePark Road….

    LOL
    FAR too much dirt would be exposed boozie…

    Reply ↓

    • AG: Bar should point out tardy judges
      There as some judges with “persistently delayed decisions” and Attorney General Dale Marshall has chided the Bar Association for not lodging complaints against them.
      Speaking as debate continued on the 2023/24 Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure in the House of Assembly yesterday, Marshall conceded that he might be unpopular for pointing out what he felt were “genuine cases” where the Bar should have stepped up against “persistently delaying members of the judiciary”.
      Appellate courts, he pointed out, have suggested that judges give rulings within four to six weeks of hearing a case and six months in particularly complex matters.
      One of the amendments by the Barbados Labour Party since coming to office in 2018 made provision for a complaint to be lodged against judges if they take longer than six months to deliver a ruling.
      Raise complaints
      “I can tell you I’ve had meetings with the Bar Association – and I supposed I may be unpopular for saying this – but I genuinely felt there were some instances where the Bar ought to raise complaints against persistently delaying members of the judiciary. The response that was given to me unofficially was that nobody wants to bell this particular cat because if you complain, you feel there are going to be recriminations,
      if not from the same judge, then from other judges.
      “If you look through the window, what will you see? You will see a number of judges with persistently delayed decisions. You will see no reports made to the office of the Prime Minister or President,” the Attorney General said.
      Along with outlining the plans for the agencies under his office with a proposed budget of $197 million, Marshall was in the Well of Parliament responding to questions, in this instance from his parliamentary colleague Marsha Caddle who asked about benchmarks for judges.
      He stated none of the parties affected in the delayed decisions was taking action.
      “We are dealing with the reluctance to hold people to account because nobody wants to stand out and say I am going to be bold enough to lodge a complaint against Judge X or Judge Y,” Marshall said.
      He had earlier told the House that a deputy registrar solely for the criminal courts had been appointed, and the number of judges increased to cope with the backlog of cases overall.
      “At the end of the day when the rubber hit the road, judges need to give decisions faster. I called for it and complained about [it] when I was in opposition and I will not resile from that position now. I can say that by adding additional judges, we have seen a faster delivery of some decisions. That tends to be because particular judges are
      working fast,” he said, pointing to recent decisions involving the elections and constitutionality of the COVID-19 directives.
      The St Joseph Member of Parliament said that by increasing the number of judges and having some focus on only criminal matters, decisions were forthcoming but in spite of the strides made, better could be done.
      Marshall said technology was also being used more with the voice-totext system and scopists who check transcripts for accuracy.
      “We have to ramp up that capacity because we keep adding judges but we haven’t been adding those additional services,” he said. ( AC)


      Source: Nation

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