Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter
PLANS ARE now being put in place for legislation to be passed which will give the court power to quash verdicts which have been obtained by fraud, intimidation or misrepresentation.
The disclosure was made yesterday by Patrick Foster, Deputy Solicitor General, while making submissions in the Court of Appeal in the Janice Allen case. Millicent Forbes, the mother of 13-year-old Janice Allen, has been fighting a legal battle since March 2004 to have a jury's verdict quashed. The girl was shot dead in Trench Town, west Kingston, in April 2000.
But Police Constable Rohan Allen (no relation to the deceased), who was charged with her murder, was freed in March 2004 after the Crown offered no evidence in the case. The Crown informed the court that a policeman who was a vital witness in the case had gone abroad and was not returning to the island. It later turned out, however, that the information was faulty.
Mr. Foster, who represents the Attorney General, submitted yesterday that Miss Forbes was seeking to have the verdict quashed by means of judicial review but that could not be done. He referred to a statute in England which made provision for such verdicts to be quashed. Mr. Foster submitted that what the court was being asked to do was not within the jurisdiction of the court. "It is a matter for Parliament which itself is unable to do so by ordinary legislation but by a Special Act of Parliament," Mr. Foster said.
He told the court that, since the Janice Allen case came to public attention, Minister of Justice and Attorney-General A. J. Nicholson had taken a keen interest in the matter. He said lawyers from the Attorney General's Department had made recommendations in relation to the matter but he did not know when the legislation would be passed but he was aware that it was being considered.
"We at the Attorney General's Department are sympathetic to the tragic and unfortunate circumstances under which the girl was killed," Mr. Foster added.
In response to Mr. Foster's disclosure, attorney-at-law Richard Small called on the Court of Appeal "not to sit idly by while its process was abused and persons who should do something do nothing other than to make announcements."
The hearing began on Monday and yesterday the Court of Appeal reserved its decision until a later date.
