Marco City MP Greg Moss said last night that he finds it extremely alarming that a member of the government who is accused of interfering in the judiciary is not subjected to due process.
"How can we be serious about saying that we are dealing with crime when we ourselves are encouraging, at least a perception, of lawlessness in some of our actions?" asked Moss during his contribution to the budget debate in the House of Assembly.
"I look at something like the honorable member for MICAL (V. Alfred Gray). Lord knows I don't hold brief one way or the other. I am an attorney by profession. I've been practicing this profession for almost a quarter of a century now.
"I do believe in law and order. I do believe that the executive does not interfere with the judiciary.
"I believe that is a fundamental tenet of our constitution. It is a fundamental requirement of law and order in our country, but when the executive is able to say the judiciary will not even have a chance to make a determination on an issue that involves a member of the executive and the legislature, why is that not alarming to everyone?"
It was alleged that Gray interfered after Mayaguana Island Administrator Zephaniah Newbold, acting in his capacity as a local magistrate, convicted Jaquan Charlton, 19, on March 19 of assault and resisting arrest and sentenced him on the spot to three months in prison.
On March 25, Prime Minister Perry Christie said Gray had invited him to relieve him of his local government portfolio pending the outcome of a police probe. Following that probe, Commissioner of Police Ellison Greenslade forwarded the findings to the attorney general on April 20.
On May 7, Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson said that no one will face criminal charges over the matter due to what she called the "conflicting nature of the evidence". Moss questioned her decision and wondered how she came to that conclusion.
"That becomes the pretext for removing something from the domain of the courts," he said. "When the attorney general is able to say that, what happens down at the court with a person who hasn't confessed to anything and therefore is involved in a conflict of evidence? Why is his case going forward?
"What is the standard and the messaging we are sending out to the rest of the world on what we do in this country? As I said, I hold no brief one way or the other. I believe in law and order.
"I believe in due process. I do not believe in the interference of the executive in the working of the judiciary by simply not putting on the case for the judiciary to consider."
Moss said if the attorney general wanted to, she could have allowed the matter to proceed and then enter a nolle prosequi.
"But to make the determination from the very beginning that one of us will not be subject to the courts is alarming in the extreme to me," he said."It sends a very bad message out to our people."
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