Grand Court Judge Alexander Henderson, who was arrested on September 24th 2008 on suspicion of misconduct in public office.
The exact circumstances that led to his arrest are as follows:
Executing the search warrant on the morning of Wednesday Sept 24th, 2008, a six-member Metropolitan Police team seized computers, documents and Mr Henderson’s Canadian passport before confiscating the Justice’s keys and phone and arresting him for “misconduct in public office”.
Held for questioning in the George Town police station, the Judge returned home about 6:00 pm, but on Thursday was questioned again by police, spending a total of almost eight hours under interrogation.
In a startling two-page statement issued Mr Henderson defended himself against the accusations, saying he had been arrested “simply so they [police] could interview me”.
“When asked by police to give a statement about this,” he said, “I provided one in writing months ago and said I would answer questions posed in writing, but would not submit to an oral cross-examination. The Chief Justice, Solicitor General and the Special Prosecutor all agreed that it was the correct approach in the case of a member of the judiciary being questioned in such circumstances.”
“The police”, he wrote “demanded an oral interview repeatedly.”
Justice Henderson said the misconduct allegations for which no charges have been laid, derive from a series of events involving former Cayman Net News reporter John Evans in the wake of a mid-2007 series of letters-to-the-editor highly critical of the Cayman Islands judiciary.
The Justice, an acquaintance of Mr Evans, said he was suspicious of the letters’ authorship.
“I told Mr Evans I would be interested in hearing anything he might learn about the identity of the author(s),” Mr Henderson wrote.
On 3 September, and without permission, Mr Evans entered the offices of Net News owner and Editor-in-Chief Desmond Seales, seeking -- without success -- evidence of a previously alleged corrupt relationship between Mr Seales and Deputy Police Commissioner Anthony Ennis.
“It is alleged that he also planned to search for evidence of the identity of the letter writer(s),” the Justice wrote, “and that this entry into his own place of employment amounts in law to burglary.”
The Justice rejected any suggestion that he may have abetted Mr Evans: “I did not ask or encourage Mr Evans to conduct a search of his employer’s offices. I did not ask or encourage him to commit any illegal act.”
The 64-year-old Henderson was Acting Judge of the Cayman Islands Grand Court from 2000 to 2003 and Acting Chief Justice of the Turks and Caicos Supreme Court in 2001.
The Governor f Cayman Islands has not suspended Mr Henderson, although he did not attend a scheduled trial on Friday, telling a Canadian interviewer that he was “taking some vacation”.
Judge Henderson served as a Supreme Court Judge in Vancouver from 1995 to 2003 after 25 years in private practice and as an assistant city prosecutor.
Forward to what the current drama is with Mr. Henderson.
He has filed an application for judicial review. This application concerns the decision by Justice of the Peace, Carson K Ebanks, to sign warrants permitting police officers to enter and search Mr Henderson’s home in South Sound and his office at Kirk House.
Campbells, the attorneys acting for Mr Henderson, have asked for an urgent ex parte hearing of the application, in other words a hearing without the opposing parties being present.
The application seeks declarations that the entry of police officers into Mr Henderson’s home, and his office and robing room at Kirk House and the searches conducted there on 24 September were unlawful.
Mr Henderson also seeks the return of all items seized from his home and Kirk House office, as well as damages and costs.
According to the court documents filed on Mr Henderson’s behalf, the decision by Mr Ebanks to grant an application for search warrants was unlawful for the following reasons:
- Mr Ebanks had no, or no sufficient, information upon which he could be satisfied that there were reasonable grounds to suspect the commission of the offence of misconduct in public office.
- Mr Ebanks was not informed of the decision "In the Matter of Operation Tempura". [This is believed to be a reference to an earlier decision of the Chief Justice denying search warrants in relation to Commissioner of Police Stuart Kernohan and Detective Chief Superintendant John Jones.]
- Mr Ebanks therefore failed to take into account important matters relevant to his decision.
- The warrants purport to have been issued by the Court whereas Mr Ebanks is not a competent Court of the Cayman Islands. Accordingly, the warrants do not comply with the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code (2006 Revision).
A full hearing of the application is requested for 17 October 2008, assuming that leave is given by the court to take the matter forward.
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