Silvera’s legal team has ‘jobs to do’
Former MP on murder charge heads back to court Feb 8
Published:Friday | January 26, 2024 | 12:13 AMAndre Williams/Staff Reporter
The defence team for murder accused and former St Mary Western Member of Parliament (MP) Jolyan Silvera, headed by King’s Counsel Peter Champagnie, says they have work to do, as per instructions, as their client maintains his innocence.
Silvera, a one-term People’s National Party legislator and land developer, 52, is charged with the murder of his 42-year-old wife and mother of three of his children, Melissa.
“He has maintained his position of innocence from day one. I am not saying that he is. No lawyer should ever really say that because if you were so certain then you would be a witness. But certainly what I can say, with great emphasis, is that he is indicating that he is innocent. We have our instructions, we have our jobs to do,” Champagnie said.
He was speaking with journalists outside the Supreme Court and said ultimately, it was for the court and members of the jury to determine whether Silvera is innocent.
“That’s not my role. Our role is to provide a defence as per our instructions. Wherever our instructions lead us, that’s where we go, within the confines always acknowledging and consistent with the cannons of the profession and the rules and ethics,” he said.
The matter is again set for February 8 and Champagnie said he was awaiting certain documents to be disclosed to the defence.
“The file is incomplete, and there is a particular document that we need to inspect to determine the way forward in the way of an application for bail for Mr Silvera. Beyond that, myself and Ms Patrice Riley, who represents Mr Silvera, would not want to comment and go into the details and intricacy of this matter because that would be simply adding fuel to fire and to cause the public discourse to go on,” Champagnie told the media.
URGED TO EXERCISE RESTRAINT
He also pleaded with the public to exercise some level of restraint and said he felt it important that irrespective of the views of the accused, there are young children involved and that it was a “very, very” difficult time for them.
He added that he believed it was unfortunate that there were many person, on social media, who had already tried and convicted his client.
The media and Silvera’s family were barred from the preliminary hearing yesterday.
The presiding judge, Justice Vinette Graham-Allen, from the bench Chief Justice Bryan Sykes in courtroom one, gathered reporters of the various media houses and told them that no permission would be granted to cover the high-profile matter at this time.
Silvera’s daughter and another woman were also privy to the discourse as they, too, were included.
Graham-Allen said she understood that the media had a job to do, but “one has to exercise one’s discretion in each matter”.
She also said that maybe at some other time, family and media would be allowed to watch the proceedings.
“Not at this stage ... At some other stage ... ,” she said before asking the parties to leave.
Silvera, wearing a light-blue shirt and dark-blue dress pants with brown shoes, looked lighter, and at least one attorney said aloud that he appeared to be losing weight rapidly.
He donned a half smile to his loved ones while coming up the stairs to the courtroom, in handcuffs and surrounded by four police personnel.
The courtroom was packed with prosecutors, lawyers, and other court staff, many of whom had other business and cases elsewhere on the compound.
MEDIA BARRED
Director of Public Prosecutions Paula Lewellyn was also on hand and expressed shocked that the media had been barred from the proceedings.
Silvera’s matter was fast-tracked to the Circuit Court on a voluntary bill of indictment after his arrest last Friday by investigators assigned to the Major Investigation Division (MID).
On November 10, it was widely publicised that Melissa Silvera, a University of Virginia graduate, passed away peacefully in her sleep at the Silvera’s Diamond Court apartment.
During an autopsy conducted three weeks later at a funeral home in Kingston, three bullet fragments were found in her body, prompting investigators to mount a murder probe.
The matter was subsequently removed from the jurisdiction of the local police and handed to the MID.
After Jolyan Silvera’s arrest, Deputy Commissioner of Police Fitz Bailey, head of the crime and security portfolio, disclosed that more charges are pending.