Georgetown: Chief Justice Roxane George Monday afternoon struck down the second election petition filed by the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) seeking to challenge the March 2, 2020, General and Regional Elections.
In election petition 99p2020, Chief Justice George found that former President David Granger and leader of the APNU/AFC List of Candidates and named as the second respondent in the case was not properly served according to the rules outlined in the National Assembly Validity of Elections Act.
Justice George also found that Granger is a necessary and proper party in the proceedings since the list he represents stands to be affected.
As a consequence of the late service, Petition 99 – filed by Monica Thomas and Brennan Nurse – was declared a nullity and dismissed.
Granger was served on September 25, 2020, which is 10 days after the petition was filed on September 15. However, lawyers for the petitioners had asked the court to overlook the deficiencies in the service of the petition on Granger, who is the second respondent and Head of the APNU/AFC List of Candidates, hence, spare their petition from being tossed out.
Lawyers for petitioners Monica Thomas and Brennan Nurse during the December 1, 2020 hearing had asked the court to overlook the deficiencies in the service of the petition on Granger, who is the second respondent and Head of the APNU/AFC List of Candidates, hence, spare their petition from being tossed out.
The former President was served on September 25, 2020, which is 10 days after the petition was filed on September 15.
As such, Trinidadian Senior Counsel John Jeremie, representing the petitioners, urged the Chief Justice to disregard the date on the acknowledgement of service and focus on the date on the affidavit.
However, when questioned by Justice George who made the error, the lawyer could not say.
In fact, during a case management hearing in October 2020, the Chief Justice had pointed out that service of the petition on the second named respondent in the matters – APNU/AFC’s leader David Granger – was “out of time”.
She had noted that according to the rules, the petition must be served within five days of filing on the respondents, but the court records show that the petitions were served until September 25.
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