Fifty year old Roger Prince, an Irish attorney who is holidaying in Jamaica and who rose in court recently to defend Archangelo Brooks (28 year old truck driver of Caymanas Gardens in St. Catherine who was charged with receiving stolen property) without having a Jamaican work permit not a certificate from the Legal Council authorising him to practice in Jamaica, was stoutly rejected by St. Catherine Resident Magistrate Simone Maddix, even after he insisted that he was qualified to practice anywhere in the Commonwealth.
The Resident Magistrate reprimanded the stubborn Irish attorney and literally had him kicked out of the Spanish Town Criminal Court. Forcibly demanding that he be heard by the magistrate, Prince was advised to take his comments to the Appeal Court where he will be heard. Prince reportedly said “as a member of the Commonwealth law bar, I am entitled to be heard anywhere“, but admitted also that he did not have a work permit, and apologised for not introducing himself to the court before speaking. He went as far as to cite a number of Commonwealth cases to support his bid to defend Brooks, but Resident Magistrate Maddiz was having none of it and rebutted the many legal citations, and firmly ruled that he should “argue somewhere else. Not here.”
She said, “you do not have a work permit to practice here, nor do you have a certificate from the Council to practice here, so I cannot here you.”
Brooks was denied bail and is remanded in custody until January 5, when the matter will come up again for mention.
Drivers of the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) buses are infamous for the rough-shod manner in which they often drive these buses on the busy streets of Kingston, St. Andrew and St. Catherine. Not surprisingly, according to a report in today’s Jamaica Observer newspaper, JUTC buses have been involved in 852 vehicle accidents since January 1 of this year.
While many independent observers may say that many of these accidents are likely due to excessive speeding and poor driving, the relevant authorities have reportedly indicated that the size of the buses has been a key contributory factor towards the high accident rate.
FORT WORTH, Texas, Dec. 22 — On Tuesday, December 22, 2009, American Airlines Flight 331, a Boeing 737-800 aircraft, overran the runway on landing at Kingston, Jamaica’s Norman Manley International Airport. The flight originated out of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, operated into Miami International Airport, and then operated into Kingston’s Norman Manley International Airport.
Preliminary reports indicate there are no serious injuries. The aircraft was carrying 148 passengers and a crew of six.
American Airlines is in direct contact with officials from the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration and is cooperating fully with appropriate authorities. American Airlines will not speculate as to possible causes of the incident. At this point, no additional details can be confirmed.
Reports indicate that American Airlines Flight #331 from Miami (with 150 passengers aboard), crashed upon landing at the Norman Manley International Airport earlier this evening. Several persons have been confirmed injured, and there are no confirmed reports of fatalities. The plane reportedly broke in two after landing in heavy rain and with poor visibility.
Residents of some communities in Old Harbour, St. Catherine are reportedly being plagued for the last three months by a sniper of some sort, someone firing metal balls from what is believed to be an air gun or bebe gun at unsuspecting residents. The perpetrator reportedly drives through the communities usually between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. in a white Townace minivan, and the occupant fires at persons. At least a dozen residents have been attacked in this way so far, with welts and their swollen skin bearing the evidence.
According to the police, the residents have not made a formal report, thus no official investigation has been done into this matter.
Two women, who were entangled in a bloody brawl over a man that they both claimed to be their sweetheart, and who bit each other severely during the fight, were chased out of the Old Harbour Resident Magistrate’s court recently by St. Catherine Resident Magistrate, Simone Wolfe-Reece.
The two, Marlene Whittingham (41 year old, unemployed of Vere, Clarendon) and Claudette Bennett (46 year old secretary of Longville Park, Clarendon) ended up in court on charges of assault occasioning bodily harm to each other. Whittingham pleaded not guilty to biting Bennett on the hand, back and face and causing her bodily harm. However, after both women gave evidence, R.M. Wolfe-Reece admonished them for fighting over the man, and told them to get out of her sight. The women reportedly hung their heads and shame-facedly crept out of the court room.
Whittingham is to return to court on January 8, to face a charge of unlawfully wounding Bennett, during a fight over the same man in July, 2008.
Bernard Chambers of Blenheim, Hanover, reportedly died in hospital recently, after he was rushed there when he had a heart attack. The cause of the heart attack? It has been reportedly that the elderly man suffered the heart attack when a nine-year-old boy, who was part of a group of children playing hide-and-seek in an unfinished structure in the yard, jumped out at him and literally frightened him to death.
Doctors reportedly said that the elderly man going into shock/fright could have triggered the heart attack, and that it is in fact possible to be “frightened to death”. The official postmortem results showed that he died of a myocardial infarction (heart attack).
Cable & Wireless Jamaica Ltd. widened its losses for its fiscal second quarter (Q02 2009) and half year ended September 30, 2009. The telecom giant posted a loss per share of J$0.11 for the half year, compared with J$0.02 yoy.
For the quarter, CWJamaica’s loss deteriorated to J$0.08 per share, versus J$0.01 in the prior year. The second quarter’s revenues were down 9.92%, which the company attributes to the challenging economic environment. Gross margin also narrowed to 64.33% from 65.63% during the quarter, year-over-year.
Members of the Public are hereby advised that Mr. Malcolm Rowe, Attorney-at-Law, who practiced at Main Street, Christiana, P.O. Box 15636 in the parish of Manchester, has been struck from the Roll of Attorneys-at-Law entitled to practice in the several courts in the island of Jamaica. This order was delivered on the 24th October 2009.
The Disciplinary Committee of the General Legal Council, after hearing evidence in the complaint brought by Ms. Claris Rattigan against Mr. Malcolm Rowe, and in particular found that Mr. Malcolm Rowe failed to pay over to the compliant, part of the proceeds of sale in relation to property in Spaldings in the parish of Clarendon for which Mr. Malcolm Rowe had carriage of sale, and the evidence disclosed that Mr. Malcolm Rowe had received part proceeds of sale.
The Disciplinary Committee concluded that Mr. Malcolm Rowe is guilty of professional misconduct in that the evidence on the complaint disclosed that he has failed to maintain the honour and dignity of the profession and had acted in a manner which tended to discredit the profession to which he belonged.
Mr. Malcolm Rowe is not entitled to practice as an Attorney-at-Law in Jamaica and is not to be employed in that capacity by any member of the public.
Attorneys-at-Law are also reminded of Section 20 (1) of the Legal Profession Act which reads as follows, “No Attorney shall, in connection with his practice as a lawyer, without the written permission of the Council, which may be given for such period and subject to such conditions as the Council thinks fit, employ or remunerate any person who to his knowledge is disqualified from practicing as a lawyer by reason of the fact that his name has been struck off the Roll, otherwise than at his own request, or that he is suspended from practicing as a lawyer.”
Dated the 3rd day of November 2009
Secretary, General Legal Council
Another senior Jamaican public official has resigned. Just two days after the Bank of Jamaica Governor – Derrick Lattibeaudiere – resigned, Commissioner of Police Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin handed in his resignation today. This was confirmed today by Minister of Information, Daryl Vaz.
It is not known as yet, why exactly Lewin has resigned, however it is widely believed that the police force’s failure to put a lid on the island’s rampant crime and murder rate is behind the resignation.
