125+ web files in a constantly
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economy, education, food, geography, government, history, internet access, laws,
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Funded by and linked to The Royal
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By Keith Archibald Forbes (see About Us) exclusively for Bermuda Online
To refer by e-mail to this file use "bermuda-online.org/legal" as your Subject
Bermuda
is marketed as being British but all visitors should know it is not
technically part of Britain but a self-governing only nominally British island.
No British laws of any kind
from the United Kingdom or Europe apply in Bermuda. Not even when there are no equivalent laws in Bermuda.
Bermuda does not have any of the democratic laws of the USA, or Canada, or the United Kingdom. As a few examples:
Bermuda's Constitution is unique in the Western World in that it applies only to Bermudians. In all other Western Countries the constitution, written or unwritten, applies to all legal residents irrespective of nationality. While there are certainly human rights laws for Bermudians irrespective of color, creed, place of origin, where they work and live, they do not apply in these ways to the thousands of long term residents who are not allowed under local laws to obtain citizenship and because they cannot, cannot buy 95 percent of local single family homes, are severely restricted in what employment they may have, may not change them without official permission and work permits stipulating a specific employer - and are not allowed to vote if they arrived after 1979. Also, non-Bermudian persons who come here on work permits, get married to and cohabit with their Bermudian spouses of the opposite sex at the same physical address are not allowed to become a Bermudian for at least ten years and until they become a Bermudian in this way may not vote. In huge contrast, none of these restrictions apply at all in the democratic countries.
Absentee voting at general or parliamentary bye-elections by mail is not allowed in Bermuda, unlike in USA, UK, Canada and other democracies, where both such absentee voting and postal voting have long been accepted as a fundamental right.
In 2007, a new Bermuda law prohibited a non-Bermudian spouse from owning or co-owning more than one piece of real estate.
In 2008, it is likely that certain non-Bermudian imported employees will not be allowed to own automobiles (cars).
There is no Freedom of Information Act, or Right to Know, or Access to Information, equivalent in Bermuda, as there are in all the Western democracies. Individuals and the media have been frustrated with government secrecy in getting information of private and public importance; to know how decisions are made.
Neither Bermuda's only city, the City of Hamilton, nor its only town, St. George's, allow the public, or members of the business community routinely, to attend Corporation of Hamilton or Corporation of St. George's meetings, or parish council meetings. In contrast, cities, towns and community councils do so and have done for many years in every city, town and village or district in the United Kingdom, Europe, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, etc. It has been alleged that municipal elections and forbidding access by the public to meetings methodology is not based on universal adult suffrage, and breaches the European Convention of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Critics have complained that because business owners have one vote each while residential owners have one vote per household, the system is unfairly biased toward property owners.
British UK nationals are required to go through the same Immigration scrutiny and Work Permit controls as anyone else from other countries, with no exemptions. They too are deemed to be foreigners.
Human Rights laws are very basic compared to UK, USA and Canadian laws. Unlike the Human Rights and/or Civil Rights and/or Disability laws in those countries, there are none in Bermuda specifically covering codes and standards, accommodation and social security pensions for seniors, access to public buildings and transportation policies including parking for the disabled, young men required by local law to serve in the Bermuda Regiment and more. Bermudians, visitors and newcomers from overseas have no access via any Bermuda Government office or agency to the UK's Human Rights Office or the European Court of Human Rights.
Conscription for males over 18 but not females is required under Bermuda law for service in the Bermuda Regiment, unlike in the UK, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, etc. where all armed forces and territorial army/reserve unit members are volunteers and conscription is banned.
While larger taxis able to take the disabled (physically handicapped and other disabled) have been brought in, there is nothing in the law that said drivers have to take disabled passengers. Drivers are free to decide whether or not to accept any disabled. There are no Bermuda laws requiring any type of public or private transport to take the disabled. For years but in vain to date, the Bermuda Physically Handicapped Association has been asking for the type of laws for transporting the disabled that the UK, USA, Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, etc. have long had.
In 2005, the UK abolished the law against double jeopardy, as a result of which murderers have at last been brought to full justice. allows suspects involved in serious crimes, including murder and rape, to face a second trial if there is fresh and compelling new evidence. But there has been no such improvement in Bermuda laws. As a result, the appeal in April 2007 re the murder, rape, sodomy and torture of 17-year Canadian visitor to Bermuda Rebecca Middleton with no serious charges laid against the known perpetrators because of gross inadequacies in Bermuda law was a complete farce, despite the best efforts of Cherie Booth, QC.
On July 12, 1612, when Bermuda's representative body first sat, laws were then based on English common law, principles of equity and all English acts of general application then in force. But Bermuda Acts of Parliament since that date have altered, modified or amended these. The local government - not the UK Government - makes and controls all Bermuda's internal affairs and Bermuda laws.
For more information, ask the Bermuda Car Council.
Practising Certificates for the current calendar year. The Bar Council published the name of every Bermuda-registered attorney and barrister in the long list of 1,025 at at May 2005 admitted to practice shown in the Official Gazette.
Under the Bermuda Bar Act 1974. The governing body for the legal profession in Bermuda. See Bermuda Government Boards
Summarized in this Bermuda Government website. (Need Broadband/ADSL, as otherwise will be very slow to examine).
Private-sector. It provides considered judgments of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal for Bermuda from 1990 to the current date. Under Bermuda laws - those enacted by the Bermuda Government - only locally registered lawyers - barristers - staff - may incorporate and amend Bermuda-incorporated companies or partnerships. Only they or their duly appointed staff may liquidate companies.
Unlike in the UK, USA and Canada, etc. Bermudians do not NOT have laws that permit gay or lesbian same-sex "marriages."
In general, however, Bermuda laws are
Very protectionist to Bermudians-only in many ways, for example in home ownership, immigration, work permit, Human Rights and other laws. Non-Bermudians are not allowed to do things here that they can, without any restrictions, in other countries.
The most senior of all in the Judicial Department. His salary is paid by the Bermuda Government.
Enacted in July 2001, it re-writes radically how Bermuda deals with criminals. It requires Bermuda courts to consider prison as an option of last resort as the Bermuda Government seeks to reduce recidivism now at 70-90 percent.
Bermuda - despite being classed as "British" - does not have an "80-Day Rule" or "110-Day Rule" which stipulates in Scotland certainly and rest of the United Kingdom as well, and is a source of pride to those involved in criminal justice system, to politicians, and the public that solemn criminal proceedings are conducted expeditiously, and with due regard to the interests of justice, within time limits.
In Bermuda, the process can take years. In contrast, in the United Kingdom, the "80-day rule" requires the service of an indictment, listing the charges, witnesses and productions for the case, upon an accused person in custody within 80 days of his or her committal for trial. Should an indictment not be served within that time limit, the accused is entitled to be released from custody. It is only because the Crown have managed to investigate and prepare the case against the accused in custody and indict him for trial within 80 days that the "110-Day Rule" - shown below - comes into play. The rule that ensures the expeditious preparation of the case and bringing of the case to trial is the "80-Day Rule." That time limit is seldom extended in practice. It is to the great credit of the Crown that, in spite of the increased pressure upon their staff, they manage to indict custody cases within this time limit. It is a tight limit, but one which the Crown consistently meet and have undertaken to continue to meet.
In the United Kingdom, the "110-day rule" requires the trial of a person remanded in custody to start within 110 days of his full committal in custody for trial. It has existed in fairly similar form for more than three centuries. In 1887, it was extended from 100 to 110 days. In 1980, the requirement that the trial should be completed within that period was altered to require the trial to be commenced within that period
However, in the UK, there are sometimes good reasons for extending the "110-Day Rule" when both it and the "80-Day Rule" have been complied with if appropriate. In general, it applies when the service of the indictment and the trial, usually about the same as that between the 80th and 110th days, is inadequate for defence preparation for trial.
For information about any aspect of Bermuda Law involving a person prosecuted the Director of Public Prosecutions on behalf of the Bermuda Government, e-mail dpp@gov.bm at Global House, 43 Church Street, Hamilton. Phone 296-1277.
Under the Supreme Court Act 1905.
It specifies the methodology for appointment.
Bermuda laws are extremely lax in so many ways compared to those in the USA, Canada and United Kingdom. As one example, in packaging. Bermuda laws say a product is a "product of Bermuda" and may use "Bermuda" as part of its descriptive label when an alcoholic beverage is bottled in Bermuda from spirits distilled abroad (Bermuda has no distillery), also using imported bottles, but blended locally. But in USA, Canada and United Kingdom, a product must state on its label that it is imported and from where, even when it is bottled and labeled in the country where it is sold or elsewhere.
Established in 2006, it promote patient interests and exercise discipline over practitioners. It has a Preliminary Proceedings Committee, set up to investigate complaints – with serious complaints referred to a Professional Conduct Committee which can hand out fines of up to $2,000, suspend a person’s registration for a year or even bar them from practising.
It took effect on May 23, 2001.
See Bermuda Government Boards.
Under the Act, Court Fees and Expenses Amendment Rules 2002 went into effect on October 1, 2002. They rescinded and replaced the Third Schedule to SR&O # 46 of 1972.
Unlike in the USA, Canada, United Kingdom and Europe, Bermuda has no laws of any kind similar to the Americans with Disabilities Act or UK's Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (which included access to all commercial properties, goods and services after 31 October 2004 by the disabled, and employment provisions). Nor does Bermuda have any transport laws protecting the rights of the disabled; or laws protecting senior citizens and offering them any choices similar to laws in the USA, Canada, UK and Europe. Nor is there any equivalent of the UK's Disability Rights Commission.
There are no reciprocal arrangements with the United Kingdom or Canada or USA or any Caribbean island for mutual recognition of driving licences. Even with such overseas driving licences, newcomers must take and pass the same full written and driving tests as those who have never used them before, in order to drive a car or motor cycle or scooter or auxiliary cycle in Bermuda. Many countries - but not Bermuda - have such reciprocal arrangements. It means that when Bermudians or non-Bermudian newcomers go to the UK to work or study, they are not allowed to have the same arrangements there as do those holding driving licences from Australia, Barbados, British Virgin Islands, Canada, Cyprus, Gibraltar, Hong Kong, Japan, Malta, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa and Switzerland.
It is up to Bermuda to make similar reciprocal arrangements and so far this has not been done.
And even though Bermuda is a British Overseas Territory and Britain is part of the European Community, Bermudians in Britain cannot claim EC/EAA driving rights. However, they may drive on their Bermuda licences for up to one year. But the same gesture is not extended by the Bermuda Government to newcomers retiring or working or visiting Bermuda. There is a double irony in that some persons still or formerly Bermudian who no longer live in Bermuda but visit from time to time and have current Bermuda driving licences, do drive cars in Bermuda.
None yet, unlike in United Kingdom, USA, etc. But see "Public Access to Information."
All have their own websites.
Only those with a reciprocal courtesy link to Bermuda Online
will be shown here.
Bermuda's law firms vary appreciably in size and degree of specialization. To be a barrister and attorney, qualification in a British Commonwealth jurisdiction is required as a barrister or solicitor.
Qualified locals, residents and working newcomers apply to the Bermuda Bar Association (BBA). Under the Bermuda Bar Act 1974, they become both barristers at law and BBA members. They get a practicing certificate for the current year, which can be withdrawn under certain circumstances. Some are also Notaries Public and have substantial corporate law departments engaged in specialty advisory services to tailor Bermuda's legal system to the needs of international clients.
Some Barristers incorporate companies. In Bermuda, ONLY lawyers may undertake this process. Potential clients who are handicapped in a wheelchair, or otherwise disabled with balance or other mobility problems, should contact the law firm directly by telephone or e-mail to establish in advance whether they can go to their offices. (Some are more accessible than others).
Some barristers, by virtue, merit, seniority or sustained talent, or all these, get to be partners in law firms. This is common for Bermudians but uncommon for those who are not. Only a Bermudian barrister may be the owner of a local law firm. They include several Queen's Counsels.
Unlike in Britain, Canada, the USA and elsewhere, you cannot go directly to a state or national agency handling incorporation.
There is a two part fee for the incorporation process in Bermuda.
The first is for the legal services, the second for the Bermuda Government incorporation fees.
Both depend on the type of corporate entity desired.
Typically, lawyers will draft and prepare the constitutive documents of companies and partnerships, the appropriate applications to the Bermuda Government authorities; and take all necessary action in connection with their registration.
Positions in their firms often include the following:
After having qualified as members of the Bermuda Bar.
Legal secretaries with special skills at transferring real estate.
They undertake compliance of client bodies corporate or partnerships and other duties. Some are members of the Chartered Institute of Secretaries & Administrators (corporate secretaries, not office secretaries) and have specialized and qualified corporate management skills.
An international body of lawyers interested in labor law, represented in Bermuda by lawyer Juliana Jack.
A senior legal secretary.
With a business related degree and a specialized knowledge of Bermuda Immigration laws and hiring policies.
Qualified librarians with legal research skills and usually now, competence in Information Technology.
They have passed the qualifications required by the Institute of Legal Executives to manage practice files.
Experienced office secretaries with a thorough working knowledge of Microsoft Office, dictation, legal filing and general office procedures.
They have a law degree or other legal qualification, or business degree with legal studies, or must be a member of the Institute of Legal Executives. The more experienced and competent they are, the better their chances of employment.
Certified to manage offshore trusts and agencies.
Your Bermuda lawyer will explain this.
In exercise of the powers conferred on him by Section 6 (4) and (5) of this Act, Chief Justice Austin Ward determines by Government Notice the dates and places where the selection takes place of persons liable for Jury Service. They have been posted for 2003.
All Bermuda Government Cabinet Ministers and Opposition Shadow Ministers are also Justices of the Peace. All in this category are appointed under the Magistrates Act 1948. The following were appointed by the Governor by the powers conferred upon him by section 8 (1) of the Magistrates Act to be Justices of the Peace in and for Bermuda. They are entitled to have "JP" after their name. Unlike in the USA, they do not perform weddings but may be called on to sign search warrants, etc. Also, during General and Bye Elections, they serve as Returning Officers.
In Bermuda's tiny size of only 21 square miles in total, there are over 400 JPs, equivalent to 20 per square mile, far more than anywhere else in the world per square mile.
Ministry of Legislative Affairs. For its members, see Bermuda Government Boards.
A Bermuda Government appointed body, under the Legal Aid Act 1980, Amendment Act 2003. See Bermuda Government Boards. Lawyers doubled their fees in 2003 for Legal Aid, from $100 an hour to $200 an hour. In democratic countries, legal aid is without charge for those who cannot afford it. The Bermuda Bar Association asked the Bermuda Government for the increase, which was approved.
It is customary but not mandatory for the law firm handling an incorporation or amendment to also do a liquidation. The fee will depend on the work to be done and include the applicable Official Gazette notice of appointment of a liquidator.
Appointed under the Magistrates Act 1948, they are in the Judicial Department. Their salaries are paid by the Bermuda Government.
Unlike in Britain where all Armed Forces are volunteer, the Bermuda Regiment is 75% males-only conscripted, with those refusing to serve when ordered to do so hunted down and imprisoned. Summons issued publicly via the newspapers include individual names and last-known addresses of young men born in Bermuda but not Bermudian under Bermuda law unless a parent is - and who may no longer live in Bermuda. Under Bermuda's Defence Act, it is up to a parent or conscript to let the Regiment know of its error - not the Regiment to correct the error before a public summons is issued.
A non-Bermudian who marries a Bermudian and wishes to apply for local citizenship (Bermuda Status) must (a) have been married to the same Bermudian for ten (10) continuous years; (b) during that marriage, been ordinarily resident in Bermuda for at least seven (7) years, the last two (2) years of which must be continuous to the date of application; (c) have been living together with the Bermudian spouse as husband and wife continuously for the two (2) years immediately before the application; and (d) be of good character and conduct. When the application is made, the Bermuda Government issues a public notice in a local newspaper of record giving notice of the application, the name and address of the applicant and a note saying that any person who knows if any of the provisions have not been fulfilled, or why Bermuda Status should not be granted to the applicant, should send a written statement to the Chief Immigration Officer, Department of Immigration.
If a marriage breaks down, a non-Bermudian will lose the spousal letter but still have the right to ask for permission to seek employment in Bermuda and apply for a work permit. A non-Bermudian should know in advance that working without a work permit is illegal after persons are no longer living together in marriage. For more information, contact Immigration.
Immigration has reported that some Bermudians apparently think it is their right - which it isn't - to demand loss of work permits, jobs, security and deportation of their non-Bermudian spouses, on the basis the Bermudians concerned were "used" or - belatedly - that theirs was a "marriage of convenience."
See Commissioners for Oaths and Notaries Public Act 1972. Almost every law-abiding adult citizen in the USA can be a Notary Public and no legal qualifications are required. But in Bermuda, persons must possess certain qualifying standards and be deemed fit to be enrolled by the Supreme Court or a judge. With a few exceptions by virtue of the office they hold, he or she must possess Bermudian status, must be a barrister or attorney admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of Bermuda for a period of not less than five years and be entitled to practice as a notary public in England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. The exceptions are the ex-officio notaries public who are the Deputy Governor, Attorney General, Mayor of the City of Hamilton and Mayor of the Town of St. George. They can perform or notarize anything on behalf of the Bermuda Government or their municipality as applicable but may not receive a fee. All other notaries public may charge fees.
A notary public's duties are to:
Unlike in USA, they cannot officiate at marriages.
Enacted in December 2005 and in effect in 2006, it governs the Bermuda Police Service’s stop and search powers, arrest and detention of suspects, treatment in custody, questioning, evidence collection, sample taking, the admissibility of confessions and other evidence.
It commenced on June 1, 2001 when the Proceeds of Crime Amendment Act 2001 came into operation.
The Government published in mid-2005 a discussion paper on its proposed freedom of information legislation. Its purpose is to consult the public on the Government’s proposals for public access to information (PATI) legislation. Also referred to as a green paper or consultation paper, this document presents information that represents the policy direction the Government would like to take following this consultation process. The public is encouraged to review the document and provide its views on these proposals. The consultation period for this discussion paper will be open for the next three months and responses should be sent via letter mail, e-mail, telephone, or fax no later than Friday October 21st, 2005 to the PATI Team, The Central Policy Unit, Cabinet Office, 105 Front Street, Hamilton, Bermuda HM 12, Tel: 298-7168 or 298-1092, Fax: 296-0555, Email: pati@gov.bm.
To date, nothing further has been done.
Higher in seniority judges than magistrates. They are in the Judicial Department. Their salaries are paid by the Bermuda Government.
From
Belleville, Ontario, Rebecca (Becky) was a white Canadian tourist visitor to Bermuda,
only 17 years old. She was staying with her friend Jasmine, daughter of local
resident Canadian Rick Meens and his Bermudian wife.
On the night of July 3, 1996, after going to the Town of St. George to attend the Wednesday evening Harbour Night (7 to 10 pm), she and Jasmine visited the White Horse Tavern bar and restaurant. Then she and Jasmine went to the home of another friend in the town for about 45 minutes or so. At 1:16 am, more than an hour after the last bus from St. George's had left, Jasmine Meens made her first call from there to Radio Cabs. The dispatcher said a cab was on its way. Jasmine called again shortly afterward. The dispatcher said the same thing. They went outside again to await its arrival. After the third call, Jasmine became very upset, and the woman again promised. This was a little after 2:15 a.m.
Finally, in desperation, the two girls, Becky and Jasmine, believing they had no other choices, accepted an offer of a ride home from young men on motor cycles. Jasmine arrived home safely but Becky was abducted - kidnapped - by two young men, taken to a desolate place at Ferry Reach in Bermuda, brutally stabbed and cut 35 times, beaten, tortured, gang raped repeatedly and viciously, sodomized, brutalized and murdered. Dr. Keith Cunningham and Dr. James Johnston completed an autopsy on the mutilated body of Becky. Both discovered anal and vaginal trauma, along with some 35 cuts, five of which were fatal. Also, the Police and prison physician Dr. Henry Pearse said her body was so covered in blood that it was hard to determine her exact injuries (at the site). He also confirmed in writing that she had been raped again and again and reported the torture wounds at the top of her head, forehead, neck and throat.
It was the worst, most brutal, most animal sexually-depraved, most violent and inhuman racial murder of any woman anywhere in the world.
News of the horrific, depraved murder of Rebecca (Becky) was flashed around the world when it happened. To date, it has been a notoriously botched murder case. The British and Bermudian authorities have done nothing so far to investigate it thoroughly and bring the perpetrators to full justice at long last. Scotland Yard was not called in, the perpetrators were never charged with murder.
Famed forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden said hasty prosecutors and a poor decision by the trial judge were to blame for the failure to convict anyone for the murder of Rebecca Middleton. Dr. Baden and fellow US expert Henry Lee had been tracked down by Det. Sgt. Terry Maxwell after the legal case began to unravel and testified in the collapsed murder trial of Justis Smith. Dr. Baden, the Chief Forensic Pathologist for the New York State Police, recalled looking at the crime scene at Ferry Reach where Rebecca met her violent end. He saw the photos of the body in the roadway. He said: “The crime scene had been tampered with. When we came down and reviewed everything – the murder would have occurred on the beach and the body was moved up and put on the roadway with the idea, it appeared to Dr. Lee and myself, that someone coming along on that dark road would hit the body on the road and make it appear like it was a road accident. They were thinking about how to get out of it.” He said they determined from blood spatters that the body had to be brought to the scene by two people carrying it. “A very serious mistake was made when the prosecutor provided immunity while having no idea who the perpetrator was. He gave it to the one who was more serious, who left DNA. It seemed to me they were acting in concert.” He said the jury should have decided the matter. “Every time there is a sexual assault and a murder the defendant always says there was consensual sex. You have to rely on credibility. Is it possible that it happened that way? Anything is possible. Is it reasonable? No. Sure it’s possible but it’s bizarre and I don’t believe it. It’s lousy for the prosecutor to make a decision like that before you get all the evidence in."
Bermuda's Attorney General, who had conducted every other murder trial during his tenure, declined to handle the case. Two men were arrested over Rebecca's killing. Kirk Mundy, then 21, claimed to have had consensual sex with her and blamed co-accused Justis Smith, then 17, for the killing. Before Police had completed forensic tests, prosecutors accepted Mundy's guilty plea to a charge of accessory after the fact. He was sentenced to five years behind bars. Smith was tried in November 1998 for premeditated murder, but halfway through the trial, Supreme Court Judge Vincent Meerabux ordered jurors to acquit him, saying there was no forensic evidence such as blood or semen tying Smith to the scene. The initial investigation was handled by police officers with only limited experience in relation to murder investigations. The entire police investigation was criticized as inadequate and prosecution decisions were condemned as inept when one man was allowed to plead guilty to a lesser charge and the other was acquitted on a questionable ruling by the trial judge.
Bermuda has not regarded it as a crime so inhumane that the killers deserved the maximum penalty. The men who raped, sodomized and racially murdered Becky have not been banned from entering Canada, the USA, the United Kingdom or Europe. Although the World Bank has rated Bermuda as the richest in the world in per capita income, it was only after a 10-year wait that Becky's mother was awarded a nominal $2,840.63 in 2006. (The local Criminal Injuries Compensation provision is very low compared to other countries. Unlike an assassinated British Governor and assassinated Police Commissioner in Bermuda years earlier when Scotland Yard was called in (and very substantial compensation was paid by the Bermuda Government), The British Government has not offered to assist in a similar or any way despite for what occured in Bermuda as a British Overseas Territory. Nor has the Canadian Government offered to assist in such a prosecution for what happened to one of its citizens.
On April 1, 2006, The Royal Gazette reported that Bermuda's Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Vinette Graham-Allen ruled that Justis Smith and Kirk Mundy could not be retried on sexual assault charges "as it broke the well-established law that a man should not be twice punished for an offence arising out of the same facts." To run sequential trials for offences on an ascending scale of gravity could be deemed an abuse of the process of the court, she argued. She said the constitution guaranteed an individual cannot be re-tried for the same offence or any other offence for which he could have been convicted at the earlier trial. It is understood permission is needed from the DPP in order for a private prosecution to take place. The DPP said the same evidence which formed the basis for charging Mundy in 1996 would be the same evidence for launching a trial on sexual assault. “No new evidence has surfaced since his conviction, to justify the preferment of fresh charges.” New charges would amount to a breach of Mundy's constitutional rights and an abuse of the courts and powers of the DPP, said Ms Graham-Allen. She argued the same protection of the Constitution applied to Smith who had been acquitted by the Supreme Court. That decision was upheld after being reviewed by higher courts. In the review, which looked at the record of all the evidence provided plus the legal judgments on the case, Ms Graham-Allen said Rebecca had been sexually assaulted and there was evidence that which cast doubt on Mundy's claim of consensual sex. But that should have been put before a jury as it had been available to the Crown prior to Mundy's committal to trial in November 1996.
Although there was no direct evidence to suggest Smith had sexually assaulted the teen, it had still been open for the Crown to prosecute under that offence as he could have been deemed to have taken part by aiding the perpetrator. She added: “Further forensic reports subsequently received post-committal confirms and supports the contention that the issue of consent raised by Mr. Mundy in his admission to the Police could have been refuted.” If the DPP did launch a new prosecution the pair had ripe grounds to claim an abuse of the process on grounds of delay and pre-trial publicity, said Ms Graham-Allen.
In distinct contrast to what has not happened in Bermuda:
In mid-April 2006, the case re Rebecca was thrust into the US national television spotlight. Prime-time Fox News crime show On The Record – hosted by leading presenter Greta Van Susteren – examined the heavily criticised investigation into Rebecca’s death and why no one has been convicted of her murder. The TV program examined the way prosecutors handled the case against two men who were arrested over the killing, Justis Smith and Kirk Mundy and why, in 1996, before Police had completed forensic tests, prosecutors accepted Mundy’s guilty plea to a charge of accessory after the fact. He was sentenced to five years behind bars. Smith was acquitted of a murder charge in November 1998 after Supreme Court judge Vincent Meerabux ruled there was no case to answer. That decision was branded “astonishing” by London’s Privy Council. The Fox News website states that the crime-investigation programme is the highest-rated cable news programme in the 10 p.m. timeslot. Greta Van Susteren is a former trial lawyer who was recently named one of the world’s 100 most powerful women by Forbes Magazine.
In 2005, the UK abolished the law against double jeopardy, as a result of which murderers have at last been brought to full justice. allows suspects involved in serious crimes, including murder and rape, to face a second trial if there is fresh and compelling new evidence. But there has been no such improvement in Bermuda laws. As a result, the appeal in April 2007 re the murder, rape, sodomy and torture of 17-year Canadian visitor to Bermuda Rebecca Middleton with no serious charges laid against the known perpetrators because of gross inadequacies in Bermuda law was a complete farce, despite the best efforts of Cherie Booth, QC.
In January 2007, it was confirmed that Cherie Booth, the wife of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, was being asked to represent the family of the 1996 vicious murder, rape and sodomy victim 17-year old Canadian visitor Rebecca Middleton at a judicial review to take place in Bermuda at the Supreme Court on April 16 and 17, 2007. Ms Booth is one of the UK’s top QCs and a top human rights barrister. Legal steps were taken in late 2006 to seek a judicial review of DPP director Vinette Graham Allen’s decision in March 2006 not to reinvestigate the matter or consider fresh charges. Chief Justice Richard Ground of Bermuda has allowed a judicial review. Bermuda's Work Permit restrictions applied to Ms Booth before she could appear as legal counsel for the Middletons at the judicial review, with the Bermuda Bar Council and Department of Immigration consulted. The DPP has also gotten an overseas QC to state the Bermuda Government's case.
April 25, 2007. The Royal Gazette group reported. A Canadian national newspaper ran a damning editorial on the botched handling of the Rebecca Middleton rape and murder case. The Globe and Mail, which sells an average of 330,000 a day, said an ongoing judicial review represents “a final chance for the British territory to remove this stain on its reputation and to send a clear message that the days when sex assaults were treated lightly are over. Last week, top British human rights lawyer Cherie Booth QC represented Rebecca’s family in pressing the Supreme Court for the case to be re-opened. She argued that suspects Kirk Mundy, 31, and Justis Smith, 28, should be charged with sexual assault, abduction and torture since earlier attempts to try them for murder were bungled. “We say the issue at the heart of this case is whether the court can put right a grave wrong in this case and ensure that finally justice is done, not just for Rebecca and her family but also for the integrity of the judicial process here in Bermuda,” she said. Ms Booth claimed it was wrong the suspects did not face sexual assault charges from the outset and the history of the case showed “what we say is a culture of impunity regarding sexual offences against women in Bermuda”. Ms Booth asked Chief Justice Richard Ground to overturn a previous ruling of Director of Public Prosecutions Vinette Graham-Allen that the case should not be re-opened. Mrs. Graham-Allen maintained that her decision was correct, but during the judicial review her lawyer James Guthrie QC said she regretted that the Middleton family had “suffered great injustice” due to a catalogue of errors before she was in her post. He listed these as starting with the Police investigation, and continuing with an error by the Crown in allowing Mundy to plead guilty to a lesser charge of accessory to the crime instead of facing a murder charge. In addition, said Mr. Guthrie, a Supreme Court judge should never have halted the murder trial of Smith, and “with the benefit of hindsight” it was wrong that neither man was charged with sexual assault. Chief Justice Richard Ground is set to deliver his ruling later this month. The Middleton case has been followed closely in Canada, and the Globe and Mail said in yesterday’s editorial that a contributing factor in the botched prosecution “was a culture in which sex crimes have not been typically regarded as the heinous acts they are.” The newspaper told its readers that the Supreme Court review offers the Middleton family “a glimmer of hope” amid “this travesty of justice”. It’s time to correct past wrongs and finally bring some justice to the victim and her family,” said the Globe and Mail. Responding to news of the editorial, Kelvin Hastings-Smith, a Bermuda attorney also representing the Middleton family, said despite the international interest in the Middleton case, the paper’s strong stance was unexpected. “If this was an editorial leader I’m surprised, and it goes to show how seriously Canadians consider this matter and how Bermuda’s got a bit of a blot on its reputation,” he said. He pointed to sex offence statistics in relation to Ms Booth’s claims about a culture of impunity regarding such crimes against women in Bermuda. “Between 2000 and 2004 we have 16 convictions for sexual assault out of 204 cases reported to the Police, which I think says it all,” he said. Asked, however, whether the outcry is likely to have a bearing on the outcome of the judicial review, he replied: “No. I think the Chief Justice will divorce himself from all the media attention that there has been on this matter. I can’t speak for him, but he will concern himself with the evidence that was filed and the evidence before him in respect of what is obviously a very difficult case.”
Earlier in May 2007, the judicial review was formally disallowed, to the outrage of the Canadian media. The repercussions of this will be felt in forthcoming months.
May 7, 2007. The 330,000-plus readers of the Globe and Mail newspaper in Canada were told of a "dark day for Bermudian justice" by the newspaper's editorial pages. The daily publication closely followed the Rebecca Middleton case and the recent judicial review in which new charges could have been filed against the Canadian girl's alleged killers. However, in a decision revealed last week, Chief Justice Richard Ground decided he could not violate the letter of the law, even though the law gave him the discretion to do so if the case was exceptional. In the end, Mr. Justice Ground rejected the claim made by the Middleton legal team which included British Prime Minister Tony Blair's wife Cherie Booth, QC. There will be no new investigation, no new criminal case. The editorial writer said of the Chief Justice: "The door was open. Chief Justice Ground chose not to walk through it. And so a family is left at a dead end on a long, agonizing road to find justice for their murdered child. And a judicial system is left so tied in knots by legal technicalities that it can't reverse what it clearly recognizes as its own grave errors, even in the face of public outcry both within and without its borders. It's a dark day for Bermudian justice."
The Royal Gazette group reported that some of the British Commonwealth's most distinguished judges and magistrates arrived in Bermuda for a conference from August 19 to 23. The regional meeting of the Commonwealth Magistrates and Judges Association (CMJA) was entitled 'Equality and the Courts — Exploring the Commonwealth Experience.' Among the topics to be discussed will be family and gender-based violence, human rights and economic development, and perspectives on equality and the courts. Although the event has traditionally been addressed only to magistrates and judges, the latest conference was extended to include all lawyers in Bermuda at the instigation of the Regional Vice-President of the CMJA, Puisne Judge Norma Wade-Miller. Members of the Bermuda Bar Association who attended the conference were able to meet and network with CMJA members from the UK, Channel Islands, Cayman Islands, the Caribbean and Africa. The event was hosted by Chief Justice Richard Ground at the Fairmont Southampton resort.
1996
July 2: Becky and her friend Jasmine Meens spend a night out in St. George's. When their taxi fails to show the pair accept lifts on bikes from strangers. Jasmine makes it safely home but Becky goes missing after accepting a lift with two men.
July 3: Becky's body is discovered at 3.30 a.m. at the roadside in Ferry Reach. She has been raped, sodomized and stabbed 16 times.
July 10: Police arrest 17-year-old Bermudian Justis Smith and 21-year-old Jamaican Kirk Mundy in connection with the killing. Two days later, Smith is charged with premeditated murder and Mundy charged with accessory after the fact.
October 16: Mundy is jailed for five years after pleading guilty to being an accessory to the crime. He admits to having sex with Becky but said he found Smith killing her when he returned from washing himself in the sea.
1997
July: Mundy is jailed for 16 years for an armed robbery of a bank vehicle committed in November 1995. He had been on bail for this at the time Rebecca was killed.
1998
Jan: Mundy is charged with murder when new forensic evidence comes in.
March: The Court of Appeal throws out Chief Justice Austin Ward's decision to allow Mundy to be charged with murder. The Crown contests this and continues to push for Smith and Mundy to be tried together.
July: The Privy Council in London throws out the bid to prosecute Mundy for murder.
November: Mr. Smith's murder trial begins. The jury hears gruesome testimony. American forensics expert Dr. Michael Baden says many wounds inflicted on Becky were to force her into doing something she didn't want to do. Judge Vincent Meerabux causes an outcry by ruling Smith has no case to answer.
2000
January: The Privy Council in London rejects a bid by prosecutors to re-try Mr. Smith for murder. It criticises Judge Meerabux for throwing out the case before it was put to the jury but says the acquittal cannot be overturned.
2003
August: Mr. Smith is found guilty of stabbing a woman in Dockyard the year before and sent to jail.
2006
March: Director of Public Prosecutions Vinette Graham-Allen tells the Middleton family fresh charges such as serious sexual assault, torture and kidnap cannot be pressed.
2007
April: Cherie Booth QC asks Chief Justice Richard Ground for this decision to be overturned and Mundy and Mr. Smith re-tried. He says it is not possible for him to do so. Becky's family vows to fight on in the Court of Appeal.
2008
January 24. The end is declared. Becky's father Dave abandons the 11 year fight to get justice done in her name, as he cannot foot any more enormous legal bills.
There are some, mostly at The St. George's Club. Following complaints by time share owners such as Richard Lawrence and John Vossler, an owner of one of the 71 units there, the 1981 Time Share Act and companion Club Rules and Regulations were supposed to have been reviewed and re-written in 2003, to bring them up-do-date and compatible with time share regulations in USA, Canada, UK, etc, but have not. Currently, they are far too restrictive in Bermuda to make the purchase of a time share unit a practical proposition to many.
See Bermuda Government Boards.
Bermuda's Veterinary Practitioners Act 2008 states that all who practice locally must either be a member of the UK's Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, or hold a 'valid licence' in the US, Canada, European Union or Caribbean Economic Community to qualify.
Last Updated: July
23, 2008
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