'Guilty plea' was route to hold Trade Winds accountable over Rio Cobre pollution - DPP

Jamaica’s chief prosecutor has suggested that Trade Winds Citrus Limited ought to have pleaded guilty in its high-profile environmental breach case which she suggests was wrongfully disposed of last year.

Director of Public Prosecutions Paula Llewellyn also raised questions about the actions of the presiding judge and the parish court clerk in managing the case which stemmed from a 2023 oil spill in the Rio Cobre.

"It would have been more in keeping with good prosecutorial practice in the public interest based on the circumstances of this case for there to have been accountability via a plea of guilty by the company,” Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Paula Llewellyn said in a biting May 9 statement.

She said remedial efforts made by the juice-making company could have been addressed during sentencing.

The company was charged under the Wildlife Protection Act.

Llewellyn contended that the case was disposed of prematurely on November 27, 2024, after a confidential mediation settlement between the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) and Trade Winds prompted NEPA’s legal officer to offer no evidence. That led St Catherine Parish Court judge Yvette Wentworth-Miller to enter a formal acquittal.

“A formal verdict of acquittal was entered… [and] as a matter of law, the defendant… could not be re-tried,” Llewellyn said. “It was even more unfortunate that the court and the clerk of the court did not scrutinize/interrogate the matter more fulsomely or at the very least allow some time for the ODPP to intervene”.

She said the judge “mistakenly took the view that [she] could not view the contents of the ‘mediation settlement agreement’,” even though the court had authorised mediation and had the jurisdiction to ensure justice was served.

The DPP blasted the use of a non-disclosure clause in the agreement, declaring, “Non-disclosure agreements are not a part of the criminal practice and procedure,” particularly in matters of significant public interest.

The controversy first broke in November 2024, when the judge discontinued the case after learning of the agreement, which had not been shared with the court or the DPP.

Public outrage followed, triggering the resignation of NRCA Chairman Weldon Maddan and government condemnation over the lack of transparency.

NEPA had entered a confidential pact with Trade Winds that released the company from any future legal claims over the spill. The settlement also noted that Trade Winds had already spent more on cleanup than it would have faced in fines under the outdated law.

But Llewellyn said that was no excuse to bypass the courts.

“A formal plea negotiation would have been the more appropriate modality to be used… subject to the approval of the judge… and the contents of the agreement be made available to the public through the Court,” she insisted.

She further underscored that when a prosecutor discontinues a case in a matter of high public interest, “best practices oblige [them] to give detailed reasons for so doing… thus preserving the public’s confidence in the integrity of the decision-making capabilities of the prosecuting authority”.

Trade Winds, which owns the Tru-Juice brand and is a major employer in St Catherine, was charged in relation to the December 2023 spill.

NEPA's own investigations confirmed the discharge of petroleum into a drain and eventually into the Rio Cobre. Although the company took immediate steps to contain the contamination, the DPP said those actions should have gone toward mitigation, not absolution.

Addressing concerns about why only the company was charged and not its directors, Llewellyn clarified that there was “no basis for the prosecuting authority to go beyond the corporate veil" and pursue directors or executives, as no evidence existed that any individual officer had consented to or was negligent in preventing the breach.

In response to the fallout, the ODPP has revoked NEPA’s general fiat to prosecute such matters and has now taken over all seven active environmental cases previously managed by the agency.

Those prosecutions are now being led by an Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions and two specially assigned Crown Counsel.

The ODPP has also proposed wide-ranging reforms, including formal training for NEPA’s legal team, immersion programmes at the DPP’s office, and greater involvement of the Jamaica Constabulary Force in investigating environmental breaches.

NEPA, in a March 10 letter, acknowledged the ODPP’s findings and committed to implementing the recommendations, including the drafting of a memorandum of understanding to formalise its relationship with the prosecution office.

“The ODPP will continue to extend professional courtesies to NEPA/NRCA with a view of strengthening their enforcement capacity,” Llewellyn said, expressing hope that the reforms will rebuild public trust and ensure environmental offences are handled with the seriousness they deserve.

Earlier this year, the Court Administration Division said the judge was not empowered to review the secret deal, which was only made public after public outrage.

“The judge did not have the authority to examine the proposed mediation agreement,” the CAD said in response to Sunday Gleaner questions.

The CAD, which provides administrative services for the judiciary, NRCA, through NEPA, its technical and administrative arm, entered into mediation on October 2, 2024, and reached an agreement.

“They agreed that the mediation agreement should be confidential and further agreed that they would prevent disclosure to third parties,” CAD said in response to Sunday Gleaner questions. “In these circumstances, it is not that the judge’s jurisdiction is ousted; the judge had a duty to respect the confidentiality of the mediation agreement reached between the parties. This also encourages parties to take part in the mediation process,” it further explained.

The CAD explained that in cases involving mediation agreements with confidentiality clauses, the clerk of court has no authority beyond presenting the agreement to the judge, whose role is also limited to enforcing the terms without delving into its contents. However, if the agreement is not confidential, the judge may examine its provisions to determine whether it serves the interests of justice before issuing a formal order.

By contrast, plea bargains require a more active judicial role and a judge is not obligated to accept such a deal at face value and may intervene if the facts do not support the charge. The CAD referenced the 2023 case of Austin Richards and Oniek Williams, in which the Court of Appeal ruled that despite an offender pleading guilty, the judge must ensure that the plea is appropriate, given the available evidence.

Lobby group Jamaica Environment Trust had criticised the Government over the handling of the case.

Attorney Marcus Goffe, representing a group of over 200 fisherfolk and residents who rely on the river for their livelihood, criticised the deal, calling it “worse than anticipated”. Goffe claimed the NRCA acted against the interests of Jamaicans when it discontinued the prosecution.

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