Caribbean Justice Systems – The Grapes of Wrath
By Peter Polack
Peter Polack
A recent turn of events in a very old case saw the Holness led Government of Jamaica ordered to pay J$120 million for the unlawful detention of a mentally ill man for 50 years. Some might unfairly assume that Jamaica had the monopoly on rank injustice from this towering example.
They would be wrong.
That title for sheer volume would have to be the UK Post Office scandal that saw a large group of wrongly convicted and penalized workers shuffled past the uncaring eyes of prosecutors and judges before being exposed by an unlikely white knight, the film industry. Many poor souls have experienced a common Caribbean court proceeding, guilty by duress although innocent.
At least it was stopped, for some too late.
Now the persistent silk Jason Beer and his team drive towards those ultimately responsible declaring in words unlikely to be heard in Caribbean courtrooms, the public is the client.
The U.K. has at least two useful mechanisms that seek to halt the profusion of rank injustice for it’s citizens unavailable in the Commonwealth of former and present colonies. There is the Criminal Cases Review Commission to investigate potential miscarriages of justice and HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate.
These two bodies would have been an excellent addition to Caribbean justice shortfalls in the Cayman Islands although many other cases have existed elsewhere.
There is the Commonwealth benchmark on prosecutorial excess held by the Cayman Islands and prosecuted by it’s present Attorney General of the Randall Privy Council case for which there has never been review or censure.
More of the same.
There is the famous Marius Voiculescu case for alleged possession of a half of a ganja spliff of .004 ounces of ganja that led to a Summary Court trial, two Grand Court hearings and two Cayman Islands Court of Appeal hearings. These required 21 Summary Court hearings, 7 Grand Court hearings and 4 Court of Appeal hearings.
Yes, the same Attorney General since 2003 but he is not alone across the many islands burdened by systems of a colonial past unable to self innovate and ultimately, heal.
There is not only a lack of review of prosecutors but judges as well. The judge in the famous 2011 Cayman Islands case of Swaby saw a young man given 12 years imprisonment for non-existent evidence before going on to become the Chief Justice.
These few examples are the tip of the iceberg across the Caribbean that cry out for real and systemic restorative justice of victims that often include accused persons in criminal and civil proceedings.
Wide and systemic injustice often leads to protests in the street such as recently witnessed in Indonesia. There are many precautions available to give the public a real feeling of justice or even just a fair shake.
Ounce of prevention and all that.
To stand mute is to endorse idiocy.
Peter Polack is a former criminal lawyer in the Cayman Islands for several decades. His books are The Last Hot Battle of the Cold War: South Africa vs. Cuba in the Angolan Civil War (2013), Jamaica, The Land of Film (2017) and Guerrilla Warfare: Kings of Revolution (2019). He was a contributor to Encyclopedia of Warfare (2013). His latest book is a compendium of Russian espionage activities with almost five hundred Soviet spies expelled from nearly 100 countries worldwide 1940-88.
His views published here are his own.
END
See also:
Missing evidence leads to quashed drug conviction : Cayman News Service Archive (2008-2014)
FCU gives back cash in quashed drug case : Cayman News Service Archive (2008-2014)
Cocaine sentence reduced from 12 years to 7 months – Cayman Compass
Crown faces compensation claim for jail time : Cayman News Service Archive (2008-2014)
https://www.caymancompass.com/2012/09/26/the-discretion-of-the-dpp
Did not know we had a Chief Justice Named Swaby..did I misread?
YES correct there was
OK I understand the sentence now.
This article is utter garbage, and Polack should be ashamed of himself. Why is a website publishing this crap?
I asked for a critical analysis:
“ Executive Summary
This article’s critique of the Cayman Islands justice system, while touching on broader Caribbean issues, is fundamentally undermined by significant and verifiable factual inaccuracies. Its central thesis—that Cayman suffers from a systemic “lack of review” for judges and prosecutors—is not supported by the evidence cited. Specifically:
• The analysis of the R v Swaby-Ramirez case is incorrect on key facts, including the sentence imposed, the nature of the evidence, and the trial judge’s career timeline. The case is, ironically, a clear example of the appellate review system functioning correctly.
• The article incorrectly attributes the Jamaican Privy Council case of Randall to the Cayman Islands’ Attorney General, a serious error that misrepresents a landmark Caribbean human rights case.
• It presents a one-sided view of the Voiculescu case, attributing the high number of hearings solely to prosecutorial conduct without considering the role of defense-led constitutional motions and appeals, which themselves demonstrate access to justice.
These errors of fact and interpretation render the author’s conclusions regarding the Cayman Islands unreliable.
[…]
Conclusion
The article presents a polemic against the Cayman Islands justice system that is unsupported by credible evidence. Its arguments are built upon a foundation of significant factual inaccuracies, misattributed cases, and one-sided interpretations that ignore contradictory information. By misrepresenting the facts of the Swaby and Randall cases and offering a skewed perspective on the Voiculescu matter, the author fails to make a coherent or reliable case. Rather than exposing a system with a “lack of review,” the very examples he cites demonstrate the existence and functioning of a multi-layered system of judicial appeal and constitutional challenge.”
Please see full analysis here: https://g.co/gemini/share/94992115b5c1
Replying to the comment from Disgusted Practicing Attorney :
Peter Polack has posted links to other Viewpoints he has published that give further weight to the above entitled “The Grapes of Wrath”.