By the time we spoke with the Director of Public Prosecutions, she had already digested the judgment and extracted potential grounds of appeal.
She also told us that she was not surprised by today's judgment. We spoke to her via Zoom this evening:
Cheryl Lynn Vidal, DPP
"It was not surprising. I anticipated this outcome given the way in which the oral hearing itself went. So I was really just looking forward to the judgment, so that I could finalize my application for leave to appeal to the Caribbean Court of Justice."
Jules Vasquez
"Okay, so is that what happens next? You will seek an immediate appeal of this overturning to the CCJ?"
Cheryl Lynn Vidal, DPP
"Without a doubt."
Jules Vasquez
"Not to put personalities into play, but we know that Justice Pilgrim, I believe, is as a criminal judge. He's very experienced and that's his specialty. We don't have that type of specialization or not that I have seen necessarily in the Court of Appeal. Do you think that perhaps it's a different treatment between judges, Pilgrim at the High Court, who is somewhat specialized in criminal justice cases, and then the Court of Appeal, which perhaps the panel of judges, perhaps did not have that specialty?"
Cheryl Lynn Vidal, DPP
"You're always trying to get me in trouble, Jules. I respectfully decline to answer that question."
Jules Vasquez
"Why do you feel it is so earnestly in the interest of justice that this appeal ruling be overturned, or your hope is that it will be overturned?"
Cheryl Lynn Vidal, DPP
"I think you've answered your own question. It's in the interest of justice. And that is my function to seek after justice, not just for the immediate victims, but for society as a whole, because society is the ultimate victim of crime."
"In this particular case, when we did the sentence and hearing and Ms. Bonds gave her victim impact statement and explained what this offense meant to her, how it affected her, how the way she described it, it ruined her life and the life of her family."
"If I believe that there may have been errors in this judgment that a higher court should look at, then it is my duty to take the matter further."
Jules Vasquez
"Are you personally aggrieved at the outcome? I know it's not about your ego, but are you personally aggrieved at the outcome because you feel that justice has not been properly served?"
Cheryl Lynn Vidal, DPP
"I'm professionally aggrieved, Jules. Professionally aggrieved."
Vidal explained that they have 42 days to make an application for special leave to appeal.
