Judge Stanley Clarke praised as compassionate, understanding

The late Senior Parish Court Judge for St Ann, Stanley Clarke, has been hailed as one who dispensed justice with compassion and understanding, and whose dispensation of justice remained consistent over the years.

Clarke reportedly died of COVID-19 at the Cornwall Regional Hospital on Monday after falling ill some time ago.

Justice Minister Delroy Chuck, in expressing sadness at Clarke’s passing, told The Gleaner on Tuesday that he served the courts extremely well and his passing was a blow to the judiciary.

“He was well admired by all who had to interact with him and attorneys across the various courts in which he served, and this speaks very highly of his compassion and understanding, and it is a real blow to the judiciary that one of such outstanding qualities like Judge Stanley Clarke should go,” Chuck said.

Chuck also used the opportunity to urge Jamaicans to get vaccinated.

“Again, I want to send out a message that people must be vaccinated promptly. Unfortunately, Judge Stanley Clarke delayed,” he added.

“With due respect, I’m sorry to use this as an indication of the procrastination that far too many Jamaicans are engaged in about being vaccinated. This is another example of where prompt vaccination could have avoided hospitalisation and death.”

Noted attorney, Oswest Senior-Smith, said even though he knew that Judge Clarke was ill and death was a possibility, his passing hit hard.

“I was devastated,” Senior-Smith said. “Having regard to what COVID-19 has been doing to our citizenry I always knew that it was a possibility (he would pass) but I was following his progress in terms of information posted in the WhatsApp group (over the weekend) that lawyers in the North East region are a part of, and the last posting that I saw suggested that his condition was stable.

“So, it was jarring, it was a blow from out of nowhere to have learnt last night that he had passed. I never really expected that he had deteriorated so badly.”

He continued: “Mr Stanley Clarke, as a parish judge, was quite a compassionate individual, he was quite understanding, he was thoughtful. When you made your submissions to him, he considered deeply the submissions of counsel and he then ruled accordingly. He usually had a wise word to dispense to litigants or accused who came before him.”

The lawyer said he first appeared before Judge Clarke around 10 years ago in the Tax Court in Santa Cruz, St Elizabeth, and also appeared before him in Trelawny and in St Ann where he was transferred to earlier this year, and found him to be consistent in the dispensing of justice.

“The same approach which he had then, which was to be slow to come to judgment, to be deliberate, to give a keen ear to comments or assertions from litigants and accused as well as to the submissions of counsel, it’s the same person I met and appeared before several times during his stint in Trelawny, the same qualities, the same characteristics that he brought with him to St Ann,” Senior-Smith stated.

He expressed condolences to the family and friends of Clarke.

Another lawyer, Keron Morris, said Clarke offered a refreshing way to deal with issues in court.

“I was before him in Trelawny and was also before him here in St Ann,” Morris said. “He was full of life; he brought vibes to the courtroom; he was rational and reasonable and practical. It was refreshing.”

Clarke’s passing followed quickly on the heels of noted attorney Ernest Smith, who died last Wednesday at the University Hospital of the West Indies.