The lawyer representing a man accused of a 2014 murder has applied to the court for stay of proceedings on the grounds that an abuse of process led to his client’s unlawful arrest.

Attorney Andrew O’Kola has asked High Court judge Justice Tunde Bakre to consider uncontested facts about the apprehension, detention, transfer, arrest and charge of Methoni Vernon.

Vernon, a Jamaican national, was charged with the July 2014 murder of 47-year-old farmer Roy Carradice. Carridice was attacked and shot multiple times about his body at his farm near the Cassada Gardens Race Track, on the morning of July 1, 2014.

The hearing of 5 December 2024 was in relation to an application and submissions filed by O’Kola in which he is asking the judge to discharge the case due to breach of international law, constitutional breach and fundamentally the rule of law.

Tunde insisted that he had no jurisdiction to make such a ruling which he interpreted as ruling on Vernon’s unlawful detention. “No matter how clear the facts are, they are not in the jurisdiction of the criminal court to determine,” he said.

In response, O’Kola consistently stated that the court was not being asked to make a declaration of wrongful extradition because according to the facts of the case which are not being contested by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), the proper process was not followed leading to a disguised extradition or unlawful rendition.

O’Kola also asked a Voir Dire and for further disclosure from the DPP on the matter. Acting DPP Shannon Jones-Gittens replied that they had provided all the information they were able to get. Justice Tunde has stated that to his mind he has no jurisdiction to entertain a Voir Dire in this matter.

After a lengthy debate between O’Kola and Bakre about whether the court has jurisdiction to give a ruling on the matter, an adjournment date was set for January 27, 2025. Submissions to argue the case of jurisdiction are to be made by January 8, 2025.

What happened

Police began investigating Vernon hours after Carradice’s murder in July 2014. Intelligence linked Vernon and others to the shooting. In 2016, he was in Dominica with his child and then spouse when it was reported, by Dominican immigration that he had overstayed his time in the country. Vernon was detained by the police and told that he would be deported to Jamaica. He was never brought before a Court or any judicial officer in Dominica, in the customary way.

Instead of being deported it is claimed that Antigua police made arrangements with Dominica police to have Vernon sent to Antigua. At least two Antiguan police officers went to Dominica and kept Vernon under observation until he landed in Antigua where they arrested him at the V.C. Bird International Airport before he disembarked the plane. Counsel of Vernon concluded that police officers in both countries “colluded” to have Vernon removed from Dominica and sent to Antigua. “Mr. Vernon was told he was being deported to Jamaica which did not require him to pass through Antigua,” O’Kola posited.

O’Kola’s argument is that his client’s detention was “outside of the legal provision for extradition” and should be considered a disguised or illegal extradition. He claims that his client’s “kidnapping” led to a breach of his rights and that to continue prosecution would lead to the likely breach of his constitutional rights.

Vernon was arrested and taken into custody, charged with murder and has been out on bail. Prior to the incident, Vernon was residing in Antigua at Villa for 15 years. Before being held in Antigua, he had spent 5 years in Dominica where he fathered a child.

Justice Bakre’s Argument

Justice Bakre strongly maintains that another court first has to determine the lawfulness of Vernon’s extradition before there can be any next steps. He insists that the issue of fact and the illegality of the extradition has to be determined by an extradition case.

O’kola disagreed, stating that the judge’s position was not consistent with Antigua & Barbuda’s constitution regarding the rights of a person before him and that his application had not asked the court for a declaration of any sorts. He reasoned that since the matter is before the criminal court and the court has proof of the circumstances that brought Vernon before the court, the application for ruling was properly before the court.

In support of O’Kola’s case a 2023 report from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) provided a detailed account of the alleged violations of Vernon’s human rights, the State’s response, and the Commission’s findings on the admissibility of the claims.