By Barbara Gayle, Staff ReporterKENT PANTRY, Q.C., Director of Public Prosecutions who is challenging a ruling by the Court of Appeal that it is unconstitutional to detain juveniles at the Governor-General's pleasure, said on Monday that he did not know if a date has been set for the hearing before the United Kingdom Privy Council.
Several juveniles who have been detained at the Governor-General's pleasure in murder cases are awaiting the outcome of the Privy Council's ruling.
After the Court of Appeal ruled in the Kurt Mollison case in July last year that it was unconstitutional to detain juveniles at the Governor-General's pleasure, the Governor-General referred the cases of 11 juveniles to the Court of Appeal for sentencing.
Sentencing has been put off in those cases pending the outcome of the Privy Council's ruling. They were ordered detained after they were convicted of murder.
They were under 18 years when the offences were committed. The Offences Against the Person Act makes provision for juveniles to be detained under the Governor-General's pleasure when they are convicted of murder.
Last year, the Court of Appeal comprising Mr. Justice Henderson Downer, Mr. Justice Donald Bingham and Mr. Justice Clarence Walker heard the case of Kurt Mollison who was convicted of murder. He was ordered detained at the Governor-General's pleasure.
By a majority decision the court ruled that that it was unconstitutional to detain juveniles at the Governor-General's pleasure. The court, in its majority decision, ruled that it had the power to sentence Mollison. Mr. Justice Walker dissented.
The court sentenced Mollison to life imprisonment for capital murder.
Mollison was convicted in April 1995, of the murder of Leila Brown, 59, widow of G. Arthur Brown, a former Governor of the Bank of Jamaica. Mollison was employed to Mrs. Brown as a gardener when he stabbed her to death at her Stony Hill residence, St. Andrew on March 16, 1994 and stole her car. He was 17 years old when he committed the offence.
The Court of Appeal recommended that because of the gravity of the crime, Mollison should serve 20 years before he can be eligible for parole.
Mr. Kent Pantry, Q.C., Director of Public Prosecutions, has filed an appeal in which he is asking the Privy Council to determine if the Court of Appeal's ruling was correct.
The Government took steps in 2000 to amend the Criminal Justice (Administration) Act to remove the right to detain persons during Her Majesty's or the Governor-General's pleasure. Amendments were made to the Juvenile's Act but a number of lawyers including Opposition Senator Dorothy Lightbourne opposed the amendments on the basis that they could be unconstitutional because sentencing was a judicial function.
Attorney-General A. J. Nicholson told the Senate in March last year that he would be having a second look at the amendments as a result of the concerns raised. The amendments to the Act have not yet been finalised.
The United Kingdom Privy Council in reversing a decision of the Court of Appeal of Belize in the Patrick Reyes' murder case, referred to the Court of Appeal's ruling in Mollison's case.
The Privy Council dismissed Reyes' appeal against conviction but had given him special leave to appeal in relation to the constitutionality of the mandatory nature of the death sentence imposed upon him.
The Privy Council held in Reyes' case that the constitutional defect in the sentencing process could not be remedied by the subsequent opportunity to seek mercy from the executive pursuant to sections 52 and 53 of the Constitution.
