The Tribune

By LAMECH JOHNSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

CONTEMPT proceedings will continue for a lawyer who made accusations of bias on the part of a judge presiding over a judicial review, the Court of Appeal ruled on Friday.

In a hearing concerning an application for Save the Bays (STB) to be heard in the contempt appeal of Keod Smith, Smith’s lawyer, Elliot Lockhart, QC, was unable to convince appellate court judges that Smith’s appeal was not premature.

Lockhart, who also represents Derek Ryan against a pending contempt of court charge in the same matter, was told that the proceedings before Justice Rhona Bain had to be completed first before an appeal could be filed.

Justice Bain is presiding over the judicial review filed by the Coalition to Protect Clifton Bay which is challenging an application by Peter Nygard to further develop his premises in Lyford Cay and gain a lease for Crown land reclaimed from the sea.

Fred Smith, QC, lead counsel for the environmental group, alleges that over the last 30 years, Nygard Cay has nearly doubled in size as a result of construction work undertaken without the appropriate permits and in a manner that had caused significant damage to the surrounding environment of Clifton Bay.

In January 2014, Keod Smith filed a series of affidavits claiming that Justice Bain should recuse herself from a judicial review proceeding as she had allegedly made a series of decisions based on her affiliation with the Free National Movement.

Ten months later, Keod Smith attempted to withdraw the applications for the recusal, notwithstanding a section of an affidavit filed in January entitled “Justice Bain, who is she?”. He alleged the judge once worked under former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham, that she was appointed to a high-ranking position in the Attorney General’s Office because of her ties to the FNM and that her two sons were fathered by a person he claimed is a close friend and advisor to Mr Ingraham.

Keod Smith also claimed that Justice Bain had made several rulings in favour of Fred Smith, who in the past had been affiliated with the FNM, and “can only be explained as coming about as a result of her bias”.

Justice Bain, in December 2014, found Keod Smith guilty of contempt for the “scandalising” affidavits he had filed which undermined the integrity of the judge and the judicial system. His then lawyer, Derek Ryan, was also informed that he “cannot escape liability” for the affidavits.

At a contempt hearing a month later, Mr Lockhart appeared for Keod Smith, a former Progressive Liberal Party MP, and expressed his reservations about the proceedings and argued that the court had already arrived at a determination without first considering any evidence to refute the pair of contempt.

The judge ruled, after a hearing in March 2015, that the court would proceed with notice against the attorney to show cause why he should not be committed to prison.

However, she stayed contempt proceedings pending the outcome of Keod Smith’s application before the Court of Appeal.

Smith represented the Mount Moriah area from 2002 to 2007.