By Barbara Gayle, Staff ReporterTHE JUDICIAL Review Court has reserved its decision in the application for a review of the Director of Public Prosecutions' ruling in the case of 32-year-old Patrick Genius who was shot and killed by the police in December 1999.
Genius' mother, Leonie Marshall, is seeking an order to apply for a review of the DPP's ruling based on the medical evidence.
In May last year a Coroner's jury ruled that three policemen should be charged with Genius' murder. The policemen had said that Genius was killed in a shootout and they were acting in self-defence.
Kent Pantry, Q.C., Director of Public Prosecutions ruled in January this year that he did not have sufficient evidence to charge the policemen with murder.
Attorney-at-law Richard Small, one of the lawyers representing Marshall asked the court for leave to apply to Judicial Review Court to quash the DPP's ruling. Mr. Small commented on the fact that the DPP gave no reason for his ruling.
Mr. Pantry, in response to Mr. Small's submissions, described the application as "frivolous, vexatious and hopeless" and therefore the application should not be granted. He said he had legal authority to make the ruling which he did. He said his decision was based on proper legal principles.
He said also that there were provisions in the Criminal Justice Administration Act where even if a Coroner's jury had charged persons with murder or a Resident Magistrate doing a preliminary inquiry had committed persons to stand trial, the DPP can decline to prosecute. He said the DPP was not obliged to give reasons in every case in which he has made a ruling. However, he said in cases of public interest he may give reasons.
Attorney-at-law Nicole Foster-Pusey from the Attorney- General's Department supported Mr. Pantry's submissions. She also pointed out that the application was filed out of time. She said the applicant had three months in which to apply for judicial review after an order was made . She said it was out of time because the verdict was handed down in May last year.
In response, Mr. Small pointed out that they had been trying to get a copy of the coroner's inquest and it was only yesterday that a copy was obtained. He said the application was not out of time because they were waiting to hear that the policemen were charged when they heard a radio report in January this year that the DPP had made a ruling.
Chief Justice Lensley Wolfe told Mr. Small that if they were having difficulty getting a copy of the report they should have written to him or to the Judicial Secretary.
Marshall had apply to the Supreme Court in March this year for application for leave to apply to the Judicial Review Court but in April Mr. Justice Roy Jones (acting) refused the application.
Marshall is applying to the Judicial Review Court comprising the Chief Justice, Mr. Justice Horace Marsh and Miss Justice Kay Beckford for leave to challenge the DPP's ruling.
