Double defeat for JLP’s Davis

The Jamaica Labour Party's Homer Davis suffered two defeats within minutes of each other yesterday, as the Supreme Court in Kingston first refused an application for an injunction to stop the magisterial recount of votes cast in the St James Southern constituency before a magistrate ruled that he had lost the election.

As was the case on election night when he was declared the winner, the People's National Party's (PNP) Derrick Kellier emerged as the winner of the seat following yesterday's conclusion of the magisterial recount, which was initiated by Davis.

"It means that the people have triumphed ... it does not mean anything personally for me ... all the people of Southern St James triumphed because the process was fair," said Kellier.

At the end of the recount, which was done under the guidance of presiding magistrate Ann-Marie Granger, the final results were Kellier 6,278 to Davis 6,217.

Meanwhile, in downtown Kingston, Supreme Court Judge David Batts, QC, dismissed the application to stop the recount.

This was to the dismay of attorney-at-law Hugh Wildman, who had taken the matter to the court.

"Our application was to prevent the count from going on, but the fact that she concluded the count while we were having the matter heard seriously impacted the result," said Wildman.

But attorney-at-law K.D. Knight, who represented Kellier, scoffed at Wildman's claim as he described his colleague at the Bar as "pathologically mendacious".

"It is wrong for him to have referred to the magistrate in the way that he did. A responsible counsel at the Bar does not speak like that about magistrates or any member of the Bench," said Knight.

- Adrian Frater and Corey Robinson

contributed to this story.