LAWYERS arguing for Commissioner of Police Darwin Dottin to be sent back to work finally got their case off the ground yesterday.
Elliot Mottley, QC, and Leslie Haynes, QC, representing Dottin, presented their application for a court injunction to have the Supreme Court reverse a decision made by the Police Service Commission (PSC) on June 17 to retire the top cop in the public’s interest.
Lawyers on both sides spent almost three and a half hours in chambers with Justice Margaret Reifer in the No. 9 Supreme Court before the proceedings were adjourned just before 5 p.m.
“We started negotiations today, and we will continue tomorrow,” Haynes told the DAILY NATION after the marathon court session.
Haynes and Mottley are charging that the letter sent to Dottin by the PSC, under the chairmanship of former cop Guyson Mayers, is invalid and ineffectual. They will also argue that the decision or advice was in breach of the principles of natural justice, and that it was also an improper and or irregular and or unreasonable exercise of discretion.
Mayers was also in court yesterday, along with attorneys Hal Gollop, QC, and Patterson Cheltenham, QC.
The court session was divided into two segments, with both sides entering the court at 1:55 p.m. for a session which lasted half an hour. Each side then proceeded to private consultation rooms before returning to the court for a longer session, which ended minutes before 5 p.m.
Throughout the afternoon, Dottin held a number of long conversations with his legal team between the times in court before the judge.
Today’s session in the same court starts at 9 a.m. (BA)
