Archive for May, 2009

Magistrate calls judge gossip

(CNS): During her evidence to the tribunal Chief Magistrate Margaret Ramsey-Hale said that Justice Priya Levers had apparently trashed her in every corner of the courthouse and was engaging in malicious gossip. The tribunal heard that in her statement Ramsey-Hale had said that almost as soon as Justice Levers arrived in the jurisdiction she began talking about people behind their backs and she said that the judge had criticized other judges.

Following the evidence of more court house witnesses on the fifth day of the hearing, further illustrating the differing opinions there regarding Levers behaviour, her authorship of the letters and her opinions of the chief justice, Ramsey-Hale took the stand and told the court that Levers was a frequent visitor to her own chambers, which was not unusual as they had known each other for many years.

Questioned by Timothy Otty, QC on behalf of the tribunal, Ramsey-Hale said that to begin with Levers’ remarks, while not complimentary, were not particularly significant.  “They were slighting glances, nothing in particular and I am hard pressed to recall the specifics,but she was not complimentary…they were merely throw away comments, nothing I would care to retain or recall,” she said, adding that it was not unusual for Levers to express her reservations about people, including her husband.

She told Otty that Levers began “ranting to her” about Chief Justice Anthony Smellie in mid 2007 following the memo he had sent to her regarding the complaints. Ramsey-Hale said Levers was upset by the events and was threatening to resign.

Otty asked Ramsey-Hale to recall a conversation with the CJ’s former secretary, Loraine Hennie, who had revealed to her that Justice Levers had made allegations about the magistrate. Ramsey-Hale said that Hennie came to her upset by what she had heard and that Justice Levers would say such things about her and Catherine Chesnut, the CJ’s Research Analyst. Ramsey-Hale said that this was when the gossip became quite acute. “It is an easy thing to allege against a professional women and to say you achieved your position in this way, and it hurt and I still feel it very keenly,” Ramsey-Hale said, referring to the allegations, the details of which were not revealed.

When Stanley Brodie QC began his cross examination of Ramsey-Hale’s witness statement, he asked her if she had a problem, which he did not specify but had been raised in another witness statement that he asked her to read. She then said that it was not correct. “Did you have a problem as demonstrated here?” he asked. In response Ramsey-Hale told him to stop avoiding the issue.

“Mr Brodie, if the question is about me stopping drinking and domino playing then let us stop dancing around the issue,” she said, admitting that she had played dominoes in Sunset House and she had stopped drinking for a while to help her quit social smoking. She said she was not sick and it was not true that she had had to “straighten out".

Brodie then questioned her about the issue that the gossip was hearsay and not based on anything Levers had said to her directly, which she admitted and explained that her witness statement was based on what people had told her that Levers had said. Ramsey-Hale said she had pressed people further on many occasions to be more specific about what Levers had supposedly said about her but most were reluctant. She said they would not elaborate and no one wanted to remember. “I am stymied because she never said anything to me that was unkind,” she said, adding that she was hearing from others what was reportedly being said.

Brodie then asked her about Levers recommending her for a position heading up a family court in Jamaica which Ramsey-Hale said they had certainly discussed.”Did you not think that a kindthing, that she must have a good estimation of you?" Brodie enquired.

Ramsey-Hale then said that Levers could be extremely charming. “I don’t why she would propose me, having apparently trashed me in every corner of the courthouse,” Ramsey Hale added, and when Brodie suggested it was inconsistent with the reports, Ramsey-Hale pointed out that she did not think it was inconsistent with Levers’ personality.  “She chose her opinions of me when it suited her.”

The magistrate admitted when questioned that she did not feel she had been advanced enough in the jurisdiction, but said it was no secret that she felt ready to move upward. Brodie asked why she was not prepared to give credit when Levers was trying to help her. “I view the offer as an exercise of charm,” she said, adding that while it was genuine she didn’t know quite why, given the disparaging remarks as well as her alleged criticisms of the appeals against Ramsey-Hale’s decisions.

Moving on to other submissions she said she disagreed with recollections of Mr Hamilton QC as cited in his witness statement and denied  creating or spreading gossip herself as suggested by Brodie.

Following Ramsey-Hale, Karin Thompson, an attorney who was named as the person whom Elizabeth Webb, Justice Levers’ former secretary, said she sent a copy of Justice Sanderson’s expenses via e-mail on the instructions of the judge. Thompson categorically denied ever receiving such an email and said there was no reason why she ever would. She also denied being alone in Justice Levers’ chambers’ discussing the chief justice, as Hennie had alleged in her earlier evidence.

She said she had a good relationship with Justice Levers and explained that for a period of time she was in close discussions with the judge as she had agreed to help the Cayman Islands Health Practitioners Board, of which she was member, draft new legislation regarding organ transplants for the country. She said there were very few occasions that she was alone with Levers for any other reason in her chambers. She said she had never engaged in discussions about the Canadian judges and knew nothing about the letters or the court room petition as alleged by another witness. She said while Justice Levers had certainly ruled against her over the years, Thompson said she never had any doubt about her integrity or ability as a judge.

The last witness of the day was Christopher Levers, the judge’s son who confirmed that his mother had never asked him to type anything until recently when he had helped her prepare for this tribunal, contrary to the evidence offered by Webb who had said that the judge had called and asked her son to type the ‘Leticia Barton’ letter.  An attorney himself, due to start work shortly with Walkers Christopher, Levers said he was unaware of the letters until the governor called the tribunal. When Otty presented him with the Webb evidence over the telephone call and the request that he type a letter, he said, “I can only say my mother has never asked me to type anything and I’m surprised that Elizabeth Webb would make such an allegation.”

Concluding the days proceedings, Otty said that the first witness on Wednesday would be Desmond Seales, the owner and Editor of Cayman Net News, which published the now infamous serious of letters criticizing the Cayman Islands judiciary, followed by Barry Randall, also from Net News, before the chief justice is expected to take the stand.

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Sanderson won’t face tribunal

(CNS): Although the former visiting judge to Cayman’s Grand Court has submitted a statement to the tribunal hearing the allegations against Justice Priya Levers, Dale Sanderson QC, will not give evidence in person. Following Stanley Brodie QC’s submission yesterday that he would wish to question Sanderson, not least because he forms part of the rumours that Levers is accused of spreading, the tribunal chair has ruled he will not be called. At the start of Tuesday’s proceedings Sir Andrew Leggatt (left) said the content of the rumours was not relevant to the tribunal and it would not be necessary to require oral evidence from Justice Sanderson.

“Justice Sanderson has given a statement and no one disputes it,” Leggatt said on the fifth morning of the tribunal (Tuesday 12 May), adding that all parties involved had agreed that the rumours themselves about other judges were not well founded and therefore there was no need to hear from Sanderson in person.

On Monday afternoon Brodie had said there was evidence before the tribunal that Sanderson may have accused Levers of coming to Cayman when she was ill because of the comprehensive health benefits offered. He said that the chief justice had acknowledged that there was at least some sort of bad feeling between Levers and Sanderson and therefore he had legitimate reason to question him on behalf of Justice Levers. “You will have also seen the letter written by Mr Justice Quin, as he now is, raising various matters of concern, and where one gets to on this is that, whether one likes it or not, the role of Justice Sanderson and his behaviour and whether he is suitable to appear in this jurisdiction were matters of concern, not just to Madam Justice Levers, but to others as well,” Brodie said.

Referring to the comments made at the outset of the tribunal that the Levers’ team would not be making accusations about other judges, Brodie explained that they themselves would not be making allegations but these allegations were the subject matter of the rumours. “What is said against Madam Justice Levers is that she was promulgating and circulating rumours. If one is going to make that kind of allegation, plainly the foundation of the rumours is something that has got some materiality,” Brodie insisted.

However, both Timothy Otty QC and then Kirsten Houghton of Campbells,attorneys acting on behalf of Sanderson, were both keen to ensure that Sanderson did not appear, and if he did they said they would be forced to call other witnesses in turn, such as Justice Charles Quinn.

Otty said that Levers had made it clear that she makes no allegations of misconduct against the other members of the judiciary, including Sanderson, and she has limited herself to seeking to establish provenance and currency of rumours.  “Investigation of provenance and currency of rumours, we would respectfully submit, does not require the presence of Mr Sanderson,” Otty said, adding that no clear case had been made for Sanderson to give evidence.

Houghton also said that if she understood Brodie correctly, what was proposed was to question Sanderson on a wide number of issues about his conduct. “This inquiry is well known not to be about Justice Sanderson, and his conduct is not relevant and, in fairness to Justice Sanderson, if there was to be questioning along those lines, it is likely that many, many other witnesses would have to be called in addition,” she said.  “In the light of the concession made at the beginning of the tribunal that it was not going to be contended that any allegations were well founded, it would be in my respectful submission at this stage wrong, on the grounds of fairness, lateness and late notice, and, in fact, lack of particularity in the document produced, to require Justice Sanderson to answer these questions.”

Although the full details of the rumours were not voiced, as the attorney’s sought to keep the allegations against Sanderson from being read aloud on the grounds that the tribunal has not accepted any of them as well-founded, it became apparent they related to Justice Levers own fear of the Canadian Judge. She had apparently related her fear to the chief justice and had received anonymous calls telling her to watch out for Sanderson as he would  "destroy" anyone who crossed him.

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Prisoner back in Northward

(CNS): Update Tuesday 12 May 12:45pm: James Orville Ebanks, who escaped from HMP Northward on Friday, is now back in custody. He was apprehended at approximately 8:15pm Monday evening, 11 May, by a search team of prison officers, operating in conjunction with the RCIPS, just a few miles from the prison in Bodden Town. He was returned to HMP Northward and subsequently handed over to the police. He is currently being questioned by police officers at the Central Police Station.

Ebanks was found to be missing during the 11:30 am lunch break head count on Friday. When his escape was announced, prison officials said he apparently used an instrument to cut through the bars of his cell window, and then cut through the prison fence, making his escape. One prison officer has been suspended in connection with the incident.

Commissioner of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Dr. William Rattray and Deputy Commissioner of Police Anthony Ennis thanked all police and prison officers for their diligent work over the past three days.

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