CCJ rules in Myrie’s favour 10/5/2013 Court orders Barbados to pay Jamaican national damages of over Bds $77 000 The State of Barbados has been ordered to pay Jamaican national Shanique Myrie in excess of Bds $77 000. This was the final outcome as the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) delivered its judgement in the matter of Shanique Myrie versus The State of Barbados, via videoconference yesterday, from the CCJ’s Headquarters in Port of Spain, to courtrooms in Barbados and Jamaica. The judgement was handed down by CCJ President, the Right Honourable Sir Dennis Byron. Declaring that Barbados had breached Ms. Myrie’s right to enter Barbados when she visited the island on March 2011, the Court ordered Barbados to compensate Ms. Myrie in pecuniary damages in the sum of Bds$2 240 (equivalent to JA$112 000) and non-pecuniary damages (i.e. compensation for the loss, trauma and injury Ms. Myrie suffered and continues to suffer) to the tune of BB$75 000 (JA $3.6 million). The Court also ordered Barbados to pay Ms. Myrie’s reasonable costs. The Court however refused all other declarations and orders sought by Ms. Myrie and Jamaica. In addressing Ms. Myrie’s claim of discrimination, The Court ruled that the evidence presented by Ms. Myrie and Jamaica, the Intervener, was not capable of raising a prima facie case that Ms. Myrie was the victim of discrimination. Ms. Myrie’s claim that there had been a breach of Article 7 was therefore dismissed. Ms. Myrie’s claim that, as a Jamaican, she was treated less favourably than nationals of other States was also dismissed. However, the CCJ did note, “After outlining the uncontroverted facts of the case, the Court made findings concerning the allegedly unsanitary state of the cell in which Ms. Myrie was detained, the body cavity search to which she said she was subjected and the circumstances under which this cavity search allegedly took place.” “It was Ms. Myrie on whom the burden of proof rested to prove these facts and, after examining all the oral and written evidence presented, the Court found that she had properly discharged this burden cast upon her,” President Byron asserted. Careful consideration “Faced with the contradictory versions of events presented, the Court gave very careful and anxious consideration to all the material before it given the seriousness of the allegations. The Court was ultimately satisfied that its findings were fully supported by the objective evidence, the testimony given and the reasonable inferences that the Court was entitled to make,” Byron also noted. “The Court reiterated the circumstances under which a claim for compensatory damages may succeed. The Court held that Ms. Myrie’s claim was such a case. It found that the breach of Ms. Myrie’s right of entry without harassment or the imposition of impediments encompassed all that transpired between the time of her arrival in Barbados and her unlawful expulsion the following day. This necessarily included her subjection to the body cavity search and being detained overnight in a cell in deplorable conditions. The Court held that this treatment constituted a very serious breach of Ms. Myrie’s right to entry and so she was entitled to be awarded damages, though not exemplary damages,” Byron also declared. The proceedings were witnessed in Court #7 of the Barbados Supreme Court, by attorneys-at-law for Barbados Mr. Roger Forde, QC, Mr. Patterson Cheltenham QC, Ms. Donna Brathwaite, QC, Dr. David Berry and Ms. Nargis Hardyal, as well attorneys for CARICOM, Ms. Gladys Young and Dr. Chantal Ononaiwu. Following the judgment, it was clear that the attorneys for Barbados were not pleased with the outcome. Commenting on the award of damages, lead attorney Roger Forde had the following to say: “I have to reconsider that. I can’t comment on that one, but the only startling thing I will comment about is the acceptance of the evidence of Ms. Myrie, over the others,” he remarked. barbadosadvocate/newsitem.asp?more=local&NewsID=32692
Posted on: Sat, 05 Oct 2013 12:17:10 +0000
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