WE WILL FIGHT
KEITH CLARKE FAMILY VOWS TO PUSH UNTIL SOLDIERS FACE TRIAL
THE FAMILY of slain businessman Keith Clarke has signalled that they intend to keep fighting until the three soldiers accused of killing him are placed on trial for murder.
The family made their intentions clear yesterday after High Court judge, Justice Glen Brown agreed with lawyers for the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) that he did not have the authority to question the action of former National Security Minister Peter Bunting to grant the three soldiers immunity from prosecution.
“It is not for this court to determine the legality of the actions of the minister of national security,” said Brown as he delivered his decision in the Home Circuit Court.
He said that interested parties have three months to challenge the grant of immunity
and instructed that the case against the soldiers be set for September 17 to determine the next course of action.
Leonard Green, the attorney representing the family, acknowledged that they were disappointed that the trial had again been delayed but said that they were undaunted.
“Yes, we accept the ruling, but we are still going to fight. We are going to file our proceedings in the Full Court ... to make orders and declarations that the minister [of national security] has no jurisdiction to grant any certificate of immunity,” Green told The Gleaner.
“Because nowhere in the law, as I understand it, can you have a situation as the one that is before the court where the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has commenced (criminal) proceedings and a minister has any constitutional power to stop that director of public prosecutions,” he continued.
Green said that he would hold consultations with the Office of the DPP and the Attorney General’s Department before commencing the legal challenge before the Full Court.
“It may be the family alone, it may be two of the above, it may be all of the above, but the applications will be filed in short order,” he insisted.
Corporal Odel Buckley, Lance Corporal Greg Tingling, and Private Arnold Henry were scheduled to go on trial on Monday for shooting Clarke 21 times at his Kirkland Close, St Andrew, home on May 27, 2010.
But before prosecutors could empanel a jury to commence the much-delayed trial, attorney for the JDF Paul Beswick produced the immunity certificates signed by Bunting on February 22, 2016 – six years after Clarke’s death and four years after the soldiers were charged and placed before the court.
Beswick argued, in his application to halt the trial, that any challenge to the grant of immunity should be made to the Full Court.
However, DPP Paula Llewellyn, in opposing the application, argued that Bunting signed the certificates after the regulations had expired.
“They would not have any validity and could not when juxtaposed with the authority of the constitutional authority of the DPP. What it would do is act as an interference with the functions of the DPP in bringing proceedings against these defendants,” she stated.