HAMILTON, Bermuda, CMC:VINETTE GRAHAM-ALLEN, a Jamaican lawyer who was recently appointed Bermuda's new Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), has set her sights on moving to the Netherlands to prosecute some of the world's most infamous war criminals at the International Criminal Court at The Hague.
She took up her new US$127,000-a-year post there last Monday, but said she aimed eventually to move to the Netherlands when her three-year stint is up. If her dream comes true, she could be prosecuting former dictators such as Slobodan Milosevic, who is currently on trial for the genocide his Serb forces allegedly carried out against Muslims and Croats during the notorious 'ethnic cleansing' of the Balkans.
Graham-Allen, 46, a former acting DPP in Jamaica, said in an interview there that she had already taken courses in preparation for the world's top court and admitted she had long wanted to go there.
PREFERRED OPTION
She said she would return to Jamaica in 2007 but her preferred option would be to go to The Hague. "I really desire to work at the International Criminal Court (ICC). I feel I have reached the top of my prosecutorial career and I want to venture to the international arena," she said.
"So I have thought about the ICC and I have been on courses since I have been in Bermuda in preparation for that."
She said she hoped that after working at The Hague she would be able to return to Jamaica and help train prosecutors from across the Caribbean or sit as a judge. Self-sacrifice and determination have marked the career of Graham-Allen, who went to Bermuda in October 2000 as a senior Crown counsel, leaving her husband Linton, an inspector in the Jamaica police force, behind.
Job commitments meant she had not seen him since May of last year.
"It's been tough but we are coping. We talk a lot on the telephone and I have very large telephone bills, let's put it that way.
"I concentrated my mind and tried to make Bermuda my home and concentrated on what I have to do to the best of my ability."
EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND
Graham-Allen was born in St. Thomas, Jamaica in 1958 and studied public administration at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, from 1983-84. She spent 11 years as a deputy clerk of court in Jamaica's magistrate's courts until 1987, having obtained a certificate in public administration at UWI. She later studied at the Mona campus for a further four years to get her Bachelor of Laws degree.
From 1990 to 1992 she studied for a certificate in legal education at the Norman Manley Law School, where she was named most outstanding student in the Legal Aid clinic.
She was a Crown counsel in her homeland from 1994 to 1998, sometimes prosecuting three murder trials a week, she said.
Her hard work and ability were rewarded in 1998 when she was made assistant DPP, a post she held until moving to Bermuda.
In her spare time, she likes listening to music, cooking and baking. She is a lay counsellor and is president of the Women's Ministry at Emmanuel Baptist Church in Hamilton.
She took over as DPP in Bermuda from Sri Lanka-born Kulandra Ratneser, an Australian citizen, and is already enjoying settling into the top job. Her office in the Government Administration Building overlooks the island's courts.
She has met her junior staff to spell out to them her plans to train them up so that a Bermudian can succeed her when she leaves. "They are quite happy. I had a meeting with them and they are going to throw a party for me," she said.
