Judge rules Dalrymple-Philibert should stand trial in statutory declarations case

The Integrity Commission's (IC) case brought against Member of Parliament (MP) Marisa Dalrymple-Philibert will proceed to trial, Parish Court Judge Leighton Morris has ruled.

Dalrymple-Philibert's attorneys, Peter Champagnie and Neco Pagon, had raised preliminary points regarding the charges against the legislator and a possible abuse of process by the IC.

However, the judge refused their application to dismiss the case, in a decision announced in the St Andrew Parish Court on Friday.

The trial date is set for March 31, 2025 with case management hearing set for February 7, 2025.

In September last year, the IC ruled that Dalrymple-Philibert, a practising attorney, be slapped with eight criminal charges for making a false statement in her statutory declaration filings between 2015 and 2021.

The charges relate to breaches of the Parliament (Integrity of Members) Act and the Integrity Commission Act and are connected to the purchase of a 2015 Mercedes-Benz, which she omitted from her statutory declarations for six years, and the controversial use of a 20 per cent duty concession to purchase it.

Dalrymple-Philibert resigned as MP and House Speaker on September 21 last year over the matter.

However, she was re-elected to represent Trelawny Southern in a by-election on November 22 and resumed sitting in the House of Representatives this month.

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