ECSC meets here next week

When Judges of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (ECSC) sit here from 4-8 July 2016 they will listen to arguments from lawyers on three major cases.

Firstly, (ECSC) will hear the murder appeal of Sherman Webb of Kingshill who has appealed against his 2012 murder conviction. Webb was given a sentence of life in jail by Justice Bernie Stephenson after he was found guilty of the murder of Corey Rohan Poleon of St Lucy, Barbados.

Webb allegedly took Poleon to the heights of River Claire in Elmshall to a little "wooden shack" where he "chopped him on both sides of his neck" causing him to bleed to death.

Webb's lawyer Peter Alleyne is claiming that the trial judge made several errors and as a result believes that the murder conviction is "unsafe".

Secondly, the ECSC judges will decide on the case of Mariette Warrington, the former general manager of the Dominica Broadcasting Corporation (DBC). She argues that the DBC wrongfully dismissed her.

That case may become the first ever from Dominica to go before the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) since Dominica abandoned the London-based Privy Council as is final court of appeal.

Warrington has filed an application with the ECSC seeking leave to apply to the CCJ. On September 15, 2015 the ECSC dismissed Warrington's appeal and upheld the decision of High Court Judge Brian Cottle.

And thirdly the ECSC will rule on a case between lawyer Henry Shillingford and Justice Errol Thomas. Shillingford has filed an application with the ECSC seeking "leave to appeal" a contempt decision.

Shillingford was found guilty of "contempt in the face of the court" by Justice Errol Thomas on March 16, 2016 and was slapped with an EC$1,000 fine to be paid by April 2, 2016 in default 14 days in jail.

Shillingford's appeal is that the Judge should not have heard that matter according to the Contempt Act and among his grounds of appeal is that the Judge should have removed himself from the matter in accordance with the Contempt Act.