The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) has ruled that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has the right to appeal decisions given by the Supreme Court judges when trials are held without juries.
President of the Caribbean Court of Justice, Hon. Adrian Saunders stated that, “The orders prayed for by the Director of Public Prosecutions are granted, namely that Section 65, C, 3, of the Indictable Procedure Act gives the DPP a right of appeal against the verdict of acquittal of a judge, in a trial conducted without a jury. And the decision by the Court of Appeal, dismissing the application by the DPP, for want of jurisdiction, is set aside. In criminal matters, we make no orders as to costs.”
The DPP had taken the matter to the CCJ after an appeal was launched on a ruling by the Court of Appeals. In that case the DPP had asked that the Court of Appeals review the case of Calaney Flowers who had been found not guilty by Justice Troadio Gonzalez, in the death of her ex-boyfriend Lyndon Morrison whom she was accused of knocking down off his motorcycle. The DPP took the matter to the Court of Appeals who said they had no authority to hear the matter.
On August 28, 2012, Calaney Flowers was accused of knocking down her ex, Lyndon Morrison who was on a motorcycle along with his new girlfriend, Sochyl Sosa, on Freetown Road. Morrison died as a result of the incident. Two days later, she was remanded to prison on charges of murder against Morrison. After over a year in prison on November 28, 2013 she was indicted to stand trial and in May 2016 her trial began she stood a three week trial before Justice Troadio Gonzalez. At the conclusion of that trial on June 1 she was found not guilty and was set free.
This set off the chain of events where the DPP appealed the decision which ended all the way to the Caribbean Court of Justice.
