Chief Magistrate Juliet Holder-Allen says she has been taken off the bench for almost five years for no credible reason and continues to suffer because of it, and is calling for everything that was taken away from her to be restored.
There is no complaint currently on record as being made against her, Holder-Allen said on Monday, calling her removal from the bench an attack meant to damage her professionally.
Speaking at a press briefing which she called at the WRHM studio, Holder-Allen said she has been fighting to get back on the bench to no avail, adding that “there are persons who do not want me there.”
“I want everything that has been taken away from me, including my promotional opportunities returned to me immediately. This is all that I am demanding,” Holder-Allen stated.
According to the Chief Magistrate, complaints were made against her by a few persons including former Chancellor of the Judiciary, Justice Desiree Bernard but over time the complaints have been withdrawn. This, she said, means that the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) cannot call upon her to answer to anything.
“There is no complaint currently out there about me but the matter can only be resolved until Justice Bernard returns to the country and explains her role” in the issue, Holder-Allen stated.
Since being sent on indefinite leave back in 2002, Holder-Allen said her professional life has taken a severe blow. She said commitment, hard work and perseverance took her to that position but people with an agenda worked to get her out.
Holder-Allen said the fact that she has been relieved of her duties and left to fade away appears to be of no concern to the people who took her off the bench. The Chief Magistrate said people seem to have forgotten that while she was on the bench her life was threatened and that murdered death squad whistleblower George Bacchus had said her name was on a hit-list.
Holder-Allen said she was able to execute her duties in spite of all that.
In November 2004 the JSC instituted disciplinary charges against Holder-Allen following allegations of misconduct. These included comments made by Holder-Allen in a local publication about then Chancellor of the Judiciary Bernard; a statement made by Holder-Allen in the same publication where she allegedly threatened not to resume sittings; a complaint against her by then Human Services Minister, Bibi Shadick; an allegation by a Ms Duff that Holder-Allen used offensive language in her court and a complaint by another magistrate that Holder-Allen interfered with a decision.
Earlier this year the PNCR made mention of Holder-Allen’s case stating that her fundamental human rights were being violated by politically directed manoeuvres to keep her off the bench. The party in a statement said that there did not appear to be any legal reason for the extended time that she had been kept off the bench, adding that the case represented yet another example of the crude interference with the judicial process.
