Federation Chairman loses bid to be reinstated

Chairman of the Jamaica Police Federation Corporal Rohan James has lost the first round of his bid to be reinstated in his job in the police force after he was interdicted for comments made at a funeral.

On Thursday morning, Supreme Court Judge Justice Carolyn Tie Powell ruled in favour of  arguments advanced by Assistant Commissioner of Police Andrew Lewis through his attorneys, Peter Champagnie KC, Neco Pagon and Richard Lynch. 

However, the judge ruled that James' disciplinary hearing should be put on hold pending his pursuit of judicial review of his interdiction.

James will also be paid 99 per cent of his salary instead of the initial 75 per cent he was offered.

James' lawyer, Hugh Wildman, had also requested that the judge recuse herself from making any case management orders in the application as there would be a conflict of interest if she dealt with the matter.

He pointed out that the judge had represented James in a civil case when he was stationed at the Denham Town Police Station in Kingston when she was an attorney at the Attorney General's Chambers.

Champagnie and his team argued that the timing of the application for the judge to recuse herself was belated and the alleged association was without any specificity and happened more than 20 years ago. 

The judge ruled that she would not recuse herself as she saw no basis for doing so in law or otherwise. 

James' attorney has signalled he will appeal.

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