Chief Justice to give evidence against suspended Grand Court Judge Priya Levers

Anthony Smellie Chief Justice Priya Levers Grand Court Judge Alexander Henderson Grand Court Judge Sir Andrew Leggatt Tribunal Chairman According to reliable sources, Chief Justice Anthony Smellie will be required to give evidence at the Judicial Tribunal appointed by H.E the Governor Stuart Jack to hear charges of “misbehaviour” against suspended Grand Court Judge Priya Levers. The same sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Cayman Net News that Mr Smellie has also been ordered to be cross-examined on his evidence. It is understood that the Chief Justice had initially resisted giving such evidence and/or being cross-examined but he has been overruled by the Tribunal Chairman, Sir Andrew Leggatt, a former Lord Justice of Appeal. It is also understood that the Chief Justice and other court staff will be represented at the Tribunal by senior counsel from London, instructed by Crown Counsel locally, and who, if last year’s Commission of Enquiry is any guide, may cross-examine other witnesses on the evidence they give. The notion that sitting judges are somehow exempt from interrogation was one of the issues that were indirectly raised in connection with the arrest in September last year of Grand Court Judge Alexander Henderson, after he had declined to be interviewed by the Governor’s Special Police Investigation Team in connection with alleged corruption within the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service. According to statements at the time, the judiciary and the Solicitor General were both of the view that it was inappropriate for Mr Henderson to be interviewed and questioned by police investigating a suspected offence. Notwithstanding Mr Henderson’s failure to provide a statement to the police when requested to do so, former Senior Investigating Officer Martin Bridger said, “You have my assurance that the decision to arrest Justice Alexander Henderson was not based on his refusal to give me a statement.” It subsequently came to light that Mr Bridger and his team had, in fact, acted upon the advice of London lawyer Martin Polaine, as to whether or not the evidence gave rise to a reasonable suspicion that Mr Henderson had committed the offence of misconduct in public office. There was sufficient evidence for such reasonable suspicion, concluded Mr Polaine, and so advised Mr Bridger and his team. The Tribunal looking into the allegations against Judge Levers is scheduled to start on Thursday 7 May at the Grand Cayman Marriott Beach Hotel. Sitting on the Tribunal along with Sir Andrew Leggatt will be Privy Counselor and former Lord Justice of Appeal Sir Philip Otton and Chief Justice of Barbados Sir David Simmons. The Tribunal hearings were initially scheduled to last three weeks, which prompted some questions as to whether setting a time limit would unduly restrict Judge Levers’ defence. The likely duration must therefore be somewhat uncertain at this point. As reported by Cayman Net News, the Tribunal proceedings will be open to the public, reportedly at the insistence of the Chairman, Sir Andrew Leggatt, and Judge Levers’ defence team. The allegations against Judge Levers appear to centre on a number of complaints about inappropriate courtroom remarks, bias against parties involved in hearings and contributions to courthouse gossip. In addition, the complaints against her also extend to an accusation that she may have been the clandestine author of one or more letters to the editor of Cayman Net News published in the summer of 2007 that were critical of the Cayman Islands judiciary. The facts likely to be asserted by Judge Levers in her defence may well establish the truth of some or all of the allegations contained in the letters in question. Several requests by the Chief Justice to each of the recent series of Police Commissioners to investigate whether the publication of the letters brought the judiciary into disrepute or contempt were each reportedly rejected on the grounds that no such offence was disclosed on the face of the letters themselves. However, according to Judge Henderson, the same letters formed an element in his 24 September arrest. A former Cayman Net News employee, John Evans, an acknowledged acquaintance of Judge Henderson, admitted to entering the office of Cayman Net News publisher and editor in chief Desmond Seales for the purpose of looking for the originals of the letters in question following a conversation about them between Mr Evans and Mr Henderson, during which Mr Henderson had expressed “an interest” in the letters. Both Mr Seales and Mr Evans are expected to give evidence at the Tribunal and Net News also understands that former SIO Bridger will return to the Cayman Islands to testify.