GEORGE Barclay’s report of the Hemchand Persaud appeal in the Guyana Chronicle of Saturday 31/07/2010 under the headline “Historical (sic) record – the granting of bail by CJ to murder accused”, was drawn to my attention. In the light of its contents which attribute some measure of responsibility to me, I feel obliged to set the record straight. Firstly, I was a sitting Justice of Appeal when the appeal was filed and it would be inaccurate to assert as a fact that the Court of Appeal delivered a judgement “relating to an appeal by Attorney General, Mr. Charles Ramson SC who had described Chang’s decision as unreasonable, misconceived and unsupported in law.” My predecessor, Doodnauth Singh SC filed that Notice of Appeal. The Chancellor (ag) and other Justices of Appeal were quite within their remit to reject the aforesaid ground on the hearing of the arguments in the appeal. My recollection is that I wrote a critique of the CJ’s (ag) decision in August 2008, and as was my wont and out of judicial comity, shared it with the Chancellor (ag) and he never expressed the view recorded in your report. With the effluxion of time and the attendant configuration of circumstances he was entitled to a change of mind.
Secondly, at the risk of appearing tendentious, the portion of the report that stated that Chancellor (ag) pointed out that “such a contention by the AG was a preposterous one since there was a failure by the AG to recognise and appreciate the supremacy of the law of the Constitution and that of the land” was unfortunate, if accurate. On the day of the ruling, upon receiving a report from Ms Younge, Pubic Trustee and Official Receiver of the AG’s Chambers (not of the DPP’s Chamber as incorrectly reported), I directed that a written request be made to the Asst. Registrar of the Court of Appeal for a copy of the decision, if written, for my forensic consideration. In my 38 years as a lawyer, Senior Counsel, Attorney General and Minister of L