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| Stuart Kernohan |
H.E. the Governor Stuart Jack, in an uncompromising 18 November statement, has sacked Police Commissioner Stuart Kernohan -- accusing him of an “unauthorised absence” and “inappropriate action” -- and announced an immediate search for a replacement.
The statement came just 24 hours after a spokesman for Mr Kernohan released a 9 October letter from the commissioner to the governor, recalling the 14-month anti-corruption probe by Mr Jack’s Special Police Investigation Team, including his own 15 May suspension, and demanding within seven days an apology, an end to the investigation of his own conduct and unspecified damages.
The letter sent on behalf of Mr. Kernohan on 9 October was released to the press Monday afternoon by a spokesman. That release came more than five weeks after it was sent. Attorneys from the Campbell’s law firm, which is representing Mr. Kernohan, said they had received no response from Governor Jack.
“We…require you, within seven days, to confirm in writing that any investigation against Mr. Kernohan is at an end, to reinstate him to his position within the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service, with a full public apology, a full indemnity against his legal costs and payment to him of a sum (to be agreed) in relation to the damage that you have caused to his reputation by way of damages for breach of contract, malicious prosecution and/or slander and/or libel, failing which Mr. Kernohan’s rights are fully reserved,” the 9 October letter stated.
Said Governor Jack, “I can now advise that after reviewing all the circumstances of Mr Kernohan’s conduct as it relates to the terms and conditions of his employment, including his continuous unauthorised absence from the Islands, I am left with no option but to accept that he has unilaterally severed his contract with the Cayman Islands Government, and I now therefore treat it as at an end,” the Governor said in a five-paragraph statement late on Tuesday, 18 November.
“I am advised that the termination of the contract [will] not in any way affect the ongoing Police investigation against Mr Kernohan, whom I understand the police intend to interview shortly,” the governor wrote, after calling on the Portfolio of Internal and External Affairs “to immediately commence the recruitment process for a new full-time Commissioner”.
Until Tuesday’s statement, the Office of the Governor had neither acknowledged receipt of the letter nor offered a response.
Mr Kernohan, Chief Detective Superintendent John Jones and Deputy Police Commissioner Rudolph Dixon were all placed on “required leave” on 27 March by the Governor and Martin Bridger, Senior Investigating Officer of Mr Jack’s Special Police Investigation Team, as part of an anti-corruption probe of the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service.
On 15 May, Mr Jack and Mr Bridger placed both Mr Kernohan and Mr Jones under formal investigation, while arresting Mr Dixon on charges of obstructing justice and misconduct in public office.
Neither Mr Kernohan nor Mr Jones has been charged with any offence, nor have they been questioned by the investigation team.
Also on Tuesday afternoon, new Acting Police Commissioner Royce Hipgrave was scheduled to arrive, replacing outgoing Acting Commissioner David George, who is set to leave in late November after eight months in the position.
In his Tuesday statement, the Governor lamented Kernohan’s Monday release of the 9 October letter: ”I am personally disappointed that Mr Kernohan would publish private correspondence sent to me at a time when we consider potential disciplinary acts against him. Not only was this an inappropriate action, but the letter also contains groundless allegations which I categorically refute,” he wrote.
The reference to “potential disciplinary acts” refers to Mr Jack’s 10 September move to pursue sanctions against the commissioner after three fruitless orders in July and August that Mr Kernohan should return to George Town from the UK, where he had been since late April looking after his ailing father.
“Groundless accusations” are a reference to Kernohan’s 9 October charges of “an unlawful and irrational exercise” of executive power by Mr Jack, who deprived the commissioner of his job “for no good reason”, and acted “in bad faith and maliciously”, prolonging a “wholly pointless and expensive police operation to the disrepute” of Mr Kernohan and the people of the Cayman Islands.
Closing his 18 November “Update on Commissioner Stuart Kernohan”, Mr Jack said he would “continue to ensure that the public is kept up-to-date as developments take place”.
Mr Jack’s office did not respond to a list of questions by press time, leaving unanswered whether the move meant an end to all disciplinary sanctions against the commissioner and if Mr Jack anticipated legal recourse by Mr Kernohan.
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