The wall must come down, forthwith! That was the decision of Justice John Muria made today. Acting as a single judge of the Court of Appeals, he heard arguments yesterday from attorneys for Fort Street Tourism Village on one side and Brown Sugar Marketplace and Harbour View on the other. Fort Street wanted a stay of the Chief Justice’s March 11th judgement, while Brown Sugar and Harbor View objected strenuously to that. Today, Muria issued his ruling. Basically, it says that, he cannot grant a stay because there is nothing to stay: the Chief Justice issued a ruling on the rights of Harbour View and Brown Sugar.
After that both sides agreed to bring down the wall within 14 days. And now, because that was a consensus decision between the parties, he cannot issue a stay on that. Fred Lumour who appeared for Brown Sugar and Harbor View, told us what it means for his clients.
Janelle Chanona, News 5
“When will the walls actually be removed?”
Fred Lumour, Attorney for Brown Sugar & Harbor View
“It means that they have to be removed immediately, forthwith.”
Janelle Chanona,
“Today?”
Fred Lumour,
“Yes that is the effect of the order.”
Janelle Chanona,
“What does that mean as far as your clients, the applicants were adamant that there was a genuine risk of decertification if the walls were to come down?”
Fred Lumour,
“As I have been saying repeatedly, that is scare mongering. The effect of what they are saying is that you need permission from the President of the United States in order to remove impediments. That is ridiculous. We are reasonable people, we know you can’t take down a concrete building in twelve hours so we will allow what we consider a reasonable time for the structures to come down. If it doesn’t come down we know what to do.”
Anita Nembhard,
“You said a reasonable time, what do you consider a reasonable time?”
Fred Lumour,
“I think 48 hours is a reasonable time for them to be taken down. It was built in less than 12 hours so I believe they can take 48 hours to take it down.”
Rodwell Williams, Attorney for Fort Street
“The position is as it was, the wall is to be removed. I am simply saying the wall is to be removed. There has been no stay in court, the court will not stay the judgement directing that the wall be removed so I would expect that the wall should be removed forthwith.”
