Dr Perkins and lawyer Brandt lose their appeals
Dr. Franklin Perkins was adjudicated guilty by a nine-member panel jury on March 1, 2017, following a trial in the allegation that he indecently assaulted a nineteen-year-old female in his private surgery at Cudjoe Head.
Justice Ian Morley in the high court on Monday morning handed down the sentence in March this year, where he was ordered to pay the victim $10,000 within three months in default of which, he would serve a period of six months
The 67-year-old medical doctor appealed the sentence against his conviction seeking to have the conviction quashed or reduced, insisting that it was a routine medical examination. This week the Appeal Court denied his appeal commenting that he in fact received a light sentence and that the $10,000 compensation was reasonable.
Dr. Perkins had appealed on five grounds which the court rejected.
They were: That the Trial Judge interfered in the case to such an extent that he became another prosecutor in the matter.
That the judge failed to carry out a means test and as a result the $10, 000 compensation awarded by the court was too severe in all circumstances;
That the judge did not properly direct the jury on how to treat with the evidence of the victim’s demeanor;
That the Judge failed to properly direct the jury on recent complaint; and, that the trial judge erred when he failed to allow the accused (Dr. Perkins) to give an unsworn statement from the dock.
At the sentencing, the doctor having denied that he committed the act, insisting that it simply was a routine medical examination, trial judge Justice Morley said he considered the statements given by persons who spoke in support of Dr. Perkins during his sentencing, adding that he also received a letter from some members of the medical fraternity on Montserrat who expressed surprise and disappointment at the guilty verdict.
Giving an extended account of the case, he stated that this assault on the victim’s reputation and that of her family indicates an undercurrent of racism, sexism and snobbery in the Montserrat society.
Related – see: https://www.themontserratreporter.com/dr-perkins-gets-suspended-prison-sentence-and-victim-compensation-fine/
Brandt loses appeal but hints at taking the matter further to Privy Council
In another high-profile matter before the appeal court this week, Attorney David S. Brandt also lost a five-ground appeal against the decision of the trial judge, Justice Bell, at sufficiency hearing when Justice Bell ruled against him that on the strict construction of the statutes, the prosecution was right to lay the charges.
Attorney David S. Brandt
The lawyer was charged in 2015 with five counts of child sexual exploitation.
He had appealed to the court on the grounds that he was denied the protection of the law as provided for under the Montserrat Constitutional order 2010, the high court judge in his ruling calling the grounds ‘absurd’.
The court of appeal, in handing down the decision Thursday afternoon, was in full agreement with the trial Judge Justice Bell. In dismissing the appeal, the court ordered that the matter be remitted to the trial judge in the high for the continuation of the sufficiency hearing.
The court also asked that counsel provide submissions regarding the costs of the appeal.
However, it is believed that the Attorney will take the matter to the Privy Council convinced that his attorneys are right in their constitutional arguments.
