By Barbara Gayle, Staff ReporterTHE APPEAL brought by Kent Pantry, Q.C., Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), challenging a ruling by the Court of Appeal that it is unconstitutional to detain juveniles at the Governor-General's pleasure, will be heard today at the United Kingdom's Privy Council.
Mr. Pantry and Michael Hylton, Q.C., Solicitor-General, are arguing the appeal.
Several juveniles, who have been detained at the Governor-General's pleasure in murder cases, are awaiting the outcome of the Privy Council's ruling.
After the Court of Appeal ruled in the Kurt Mollison case in July last year that it was unconstitutional to detain juveniles at the Governor-General's pleasure, the Governor-General referred the cases of 11 juveniles to the Court of Appeal for sentencing.
Sentencing has been put off in those cases, pending the outcome of the Privy Council's ruling. They were ordered detained after they were convicted of murder.
They were under 18 years when the offences were committed. The Offences Against the Person Act makes provision for juveniles to be detained under the Governor-General's pleasure when they are convicted of murder.
Last year, the Court of Appeal, comprising Justice Henderson Downer, Justice Donald Bingham and Justice Clarence Walker heard the case of Kurt Mollison, who was convicted of murder. He was ordered detained at the Governor-General's pleasure.
By a majority decision, the court ruled that it was unconstitutional to detain juveniles at the Governor-General's pleasure. The court, in its majority decision, ruled that it had the power to sentence Mollison. Mr. Justice Walker dissented.
The court sentenced Mollison to life imprisonment for capital murder.
Kent Pantry, Q.C., Director of Public Prosecutions, has filed an appeal, in which he is asking the Privy Council to determine if the Court of Appeal's ruling was correct.
The Government took steps in 2000 to amend the Criminal Justice (Administration) Act to remove the right to detain persons on Her Majesty's or the Governor-General's pleasure. Amendments were made to the Juvenile's Act, but a number of lawyers, including JLP Senator Dorothy Light-bourne, opposed the amendments on the basis that they could be unconstitutional because sentencing was a judicial function.
Attorney-General A. J. Nicholson told the Senate in March last year that he would be having a second look at the amendments as a result of the concerns raised. The amendments to the Act have not yet been finalised.
