SOE judgment expected today

The judgment on whether the five men detained under states of emergency (SOE) for extensive periods will be released or further remanded is expected to be handed down today.

Justice Bertram Morrison, who is presiding over the hearings, last week ordered that the men – Everton Douglas, Nicholas Heat, Courtney Hall, Courtney Thompson, and Gavin Noble – be taken to the Supreme Court on Monday.

The men are being held under SOEs in Kingston Eastern, St Andrew South, Westmoreland, and Clarendon. They have been in custody for up to a year without charge.

In an effort to wrap up the hearings before the court term ends on Friday, Justice Morrison ordered that the attorneys submit written submissions and allotted 15 minutes for them to deliver oral submissions in court this morning.

Although Louis Hacker, the attorney representing the Government, requested a 45-minute period and Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ) senior legal adviser John Clarke asked for 30 minutes, Morrison retorted that additional time would result in him rushing his judgment.

Before court was adjourned, the final witness, former police constable David Binns, disclosed, under cross-examination, that he gave a statement to the Emergency Powers Review Tribunal of reasons why Heat should not be released.

However, according to Clarke, the incident he noted in his statement, which he said was requested by the prosecutor, occurred in 2017 and was later thrown out by the court.

Clarke then asked: “The only thing you could draw for was the 2017 incident that was dismissed?”

Although Binns responded no, saying he highlighted other incidents, upon further questioning he admitted that that was the only one cited in his statement.

In the meantime, an affidavit filed by JFJ to the attorney general’s office was on Tuesday disregarded by the judge and will not be included in the summation.

Clarke said that the government attorneys filed an affidavit at 3:57 p.m. on Friday and charged that they were unable to then file a response until Monday because court had closed at 3 p.m.

It was decided that the court would rely on all previous affidavits filed and disregard the latest ones.

Court resumes at 10 a.m.