Legal Report by the Hon. Attorney General Rhondalee Braithwaite Knowles OBE QC on the ceremonial sitting to mark the Opening of the Supreme Court of the Turks and Caicos Islands for the Year 2021
ATTORNEY GENERAL’S CHAMBERS
Legal Report by the Hon. Attorney General Rhondalee Braithwaite Knowles OBE QC on the ceremonial sitting to mark the Opening of the Supreme Court of the Turks and Caicos Islands for the Year 2021
May it please you my Lady Chief Justice Agyemang,
My Lord Mr. Justice Aziz,
My Lady Mrs. Justice Lobban-Jackson,
My Lord Mr. Justice Harrison,
Introduction and Protocol – I am pleased to rise once again at your invitation to move the motion for the ceremonial sitting marking the Opening of the Supreme Court of the Turks and Caicos Islands for the year 2021.
My Lady with your leave, I would wish to recognize the presence of the specially invited guests –
HE the Governor Mr. Nigel Dakin CMG
HE the Deputy Governor Mrs. Anya Williams MBE
Hon. Karen Malcolm, Minister of Education, Youth, Social and Library Services
Hon. Akierra Missick, former Member of the House of Assembly
Hon. Mr. Justice of Appeal Stollmeyer, President of the Court of Appeal and justices of the Court of Appeal
Hon. Chief Magistrate Mr. Jolyon Hatmin and resident Magistrates
The Director of Public Prosecutions Mr. Eugene Otuonye QC
The Acting President of the Bar Council Ms. Sarah Knight
The Doyen of the Bar Mr. Ariel Misick QC
Members of the Senior Bar and colleagues at the public bar and private bar
The Registrar and members of the Court staff
The Commissioner of Police Mr. Trevor Botting
Deacon Scott Jupp
My Lady, some nine months following your appointment of Chief Justice, I am pleased to publicly welcome you to the Turks and Caicos Islands, congratulate you on your appointment and wish you every success in your tenure as Chief Justice in these islands.
With my Lady’s leave, I propose in moving this motion, to reflect on 2020 as well as to make a few observations on some of the work before us for 2021.
Covid-19 – The Covid-19 pandemic dominated the lives and livelihood of Turks and Caicos Islanders for much of 2020 and brought so many changes and challenges to our working lives that were all but impossible to foresee when we were marking this occasion at the start of last year.
It has utterly changed the world of work. Across the Turks and Caicos Islands and the world, workplaces and practices have had to adapt to a new norm of having to work from home to contain and control the spread of the virus while many other front line workers have continued to carry out their jobs under extremely risky conditions.
In the legal arena, the main challenge posed by the pandemic has been to ensure that the administration of justice does not grind to a halt as a result of the lockdown, curfew and social distancing measures imposed to contain and control it. Consequently, significant efforts have been made to ensure progress in legal proceedings, despite the constraints with priority focus being to ensure continued timely access to justice for all members of the public while at the same time ensuring their safety and that of court staff.
In this vein, with the strong support of the Cabinet, my Chambers assisted the Court with the carriage through the Cabinet and the House of Assembly of Emergency Powers Regulations to enable Court Proceedings to continue, an amendment to the Jury Ordinance to enable augmented procedures for the conduct of jury trials, and the ground breaking Court Live Link (Remote Participation) Ordinance 2020 to modernize the law to allow for remote participation in proceedings before all courts and tribunals in the Islands in both civil and criminal matters. In moving these initiatives through, we have had to be innovative, consultative and collaborative. Despite the very fraught nature of some of our early exchanges and a legal challenge that reached the Privy Council, with the strong collaboration amongst the judicial administration, the bar, the Office of the DPP and my Chambers, we got there.
The inevitable increased role of technology in access to justice has been brought into sharp focus as a result of Covid-19 and I am excited about the opportunities before us.
Synergies – My Lady, the importance of synergy between the various stakeholders of the justice system cannot be understated and through the work of the Criminal Justice Stakeholders’ Group comprising the Judiciary, the ODPP, the RTCIPF, Social Development, HMP, and my Chambers, under your leadership we saw the inclusion of representatives of the Bar in the work of the group creating greater synergies and promoting mutual respect and understanding. With the strong engagement of HE the Governor who has committed to championing additional resources from the United Kingdom to support the shared strategy and action plan to address key deficiencies in the administration of justice in the Islands, I remain confident in the growing usefulness of this still recent initiative.
My Chambers – My Lady, my Chambers has kept to our promise of proactively work with key stakeholders across Government to develop sound legal solutions. I want to take this opportunity to publicly thank former Deputy Attorney General Dr. Michael Dillon and the Heads of each Division (Khalila Astwood, Desiree Downes, Yaa McCartney and Clemar Hippolyte) for their hard work and determination over the course of a very challenging year. My Lady, I am pleased to report that the provision of legal services continued uninterrupted by Covid-19 with teams working from home and ably adapting to the challenges of virtual working life despite some personal challenges.
My Lady, by 24th December 2020 when the House of Assembly was dissolved, my Legislative Drafting division had produced 38 Ordinances and 141 Legal Notices.
Notable new legislation included –
1. The Notary Public Ordinance 2020
2. The Vulnerable Witnesses Ordinance 2020 (ground breaking legislation to provide a legal framework for the protection of vulnerable witnesses)
3. The Sexual Offences Ordinance 2020
4. The Defence Ordinance 2020(Ground breaking in the area of increased national security)
5. The Court Live Link (Remote Participation) Ordinance 2020.
Notable subsidiary legislation included –
1. The Civil Procedures Fees Order 2020
2. The Children (Care and Protection) Regulations 2020
3. The Prisons (Control and Use of Equipment) Regulations 2020 (To address issues of management and control at the prison. For the supply, control, use and accountability of personal protective equipment (taser guns, pepper spray, body worn cameras) supplied to Prison Officers.
My Lady, it will come as no surprise that Covid-19 dominated legal notices amounting to 48% of the 141 legal notices made in 2020; with 36 emergency powers regulations (representing 25% of the legal notices made) or 32 public health regulations (representing 23 % of legal notices).
My International Division continued to improve the TCI's compliance with its international obligations, including –
1. Coordinating follow-up actions nationwide recommended by the CFATF Mutual Evaluation Report published on 20 January 2020;
2. Providing an expert assessor for the Cayman Islands CFATF Mutual Evaluation Follow up Report;
3. Obtaining Cabinet’s approval for a revised anti money laundering committee structure, three year budget and strategy with supporting amendments to the Proceeds of Crime Ordinance;
4. The introduction and issues of 110 Financial Sanctions Notices (FSNs) in relation to individuals and entities that subject to financial sanctions under the UN, UK and EU sanctions lists – all without delay.
5. Delivery of training initiatives to improve the level of understanding of the FATF Anti- Money laundering and Combating of Financing of Terrorism standards and requirements, amongst key stakeholders:
1. A three day Human Trafficking Training session for immigration, employment services and Police in March 2020 in collaboration with the Ministry of Immigration; and
2. A three day training session in collaboration with the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions in November 2020 for the Police, Customs, Immigration and the Integrity Commission.
6. Participation in virtual trainings on Trade-based Money Laundering, Asset Recovery and the Detection of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing in Relation to Covid-19.
7. Reviewing international agreements and MoUs such as the proposed Shiprider Agreement and MoU to promote cooperation between the Turks and Caicos Islands and the Commonwealth of the Bahamas which are in late stage final review by the United Kingdom before being signed.
8. Processing mutual legal assistance requests, extradition matters and the extension of international conventions to the TCI.
9. Participation in a project to modernise all major aspects of maritime law to bring the TCI’s laws in line with many key IMO instruments and conventions.
My commercial division had another busy year producing –
1. 169 Agreements (development agreements, goods and service contracts, leases, and licences) and 10 MoUs.
2. Out of the 169, 3 development agreements were executed within this financial year and 3 finalised awaiting execution with a number of others still under negotiation.
3. The Division assisted in processing over 200 applications relating to First-time home owners, Covid-19 Stamp Duty Policy, and Covid-19 Stimulus programme.
My Civil litigation division remained busy with an increase in serious litigation matters and in this regard, I want to single out the work done by three outside counsel in collaboration with my Chambers on matters of great importance to Government whose skillful assistance deserves special recognition – Andrew Mitchell QC and the team who offered their services to my Chambers pro bono; Stephen Wilson QC in respect of certain sensitive litigation matters and Laurence Harris and his team in respect of some civil recovery matters.
Training Opportunities – My Lady, through the ongoing collaboration with the Office of the DPP, we once again did our part to promote the training and admission of local attorneys with the support of HE the Deputy Governor. Through this initiative, we completed the post qualification training of Ms. Angie Been and anticipate the support of the Bar for her general admission later this month.
Farewells – My Lady, I pause to acknowledge the legacy of the Hon. Mr. Justice of Appeal Sir Elliott Mottley, former President of the Court of Appeal who stepped down as President in 2020 following a long and illustrious career at the Bar and on the Court of Appeal Bench in the Turks and Caicos Islands. I also thank the former Hon. Resident Magistrate Kamar Anderson who moved on in 2020. I wish to publicly congratulate my Lady Justice Lobban-Jackson on her elevation and Hon. Hatmin on his appointment as Chief Magistrate as well as former President of the Bar Council Mrs. Selver-Gardiner on her upcoming appointment as Hon. Resident Magistrate.
CONCLUSION
This morning’s ceremonial opening of the legal year is not just about keeping traditions, especially in the context of the challenges presented by Covid-19, it is important for the members of the public to see the judicial administration and the legal fraternity, as key stakeholders in the administration of justice to take stock of the year that has been, and to foreshadow the necessary work for the year ahead as well as to collectively pray for guidance at the start of the legal term and to re-affirm our commitment to upholding the rule of law and defending access to justice for the people of our islands.
My Lady, as law officers, we stand in full support of the work of the court and wish you, my Lord Justice Aziz, my Lady Justice Lobban-Jackson, my Lord Justice Harrison, my Lord President of the Court of Appeal and the Justices of Appeal, the Honourable Magistrates, the Hon. Registrar and the entire judicial administration a prosperous and productive New Year.
I now formally move the motion for the opening of the Turks and Caicos Islands Supreme Court for the year 2020.
May it so please the Court.
Rhondalee Braithwaite-Knowles, OBE QC
Hon. Attorney General
4th January 2021