Unfair to bash DPP over lost cases
Local attorney Daniel Davies suggested that poor optics led to the criticism aimed at Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Tiffany Scatliffe-Esprit and has indicated that she has been receiving unfair criticism over what appears to be a bad record before the courts.
“Good news doesn’t carry. Bad news carries. We often hear that the Director of Public Prosecutions doesn’t win any cases… but those are only the major cases that you hear reported about in the news,” Davies said on the Hot Seat radio programme yesterday.
Davies argued that many cases before the court don’t go to trial because persons plead guilty. He claimed that this, in itself, is a victory.
“There are a number of persons that go to trial and get found guilty. There are a lot of persons in the Magistrate’s Court… but, it’s not fair to bash the DPP because of the few cases you hear about being lost. Cases are won and lost all the time,” Davies said.
He further argued that 90 per cent of the cases that appear before the courts result in guilty pleas.
Last year, former Chief Inspector of the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force (RVIPF), Vere Browne, criticised the DPP’s office for having a drought of convictions. “The DPP’s office with his or her legal team — and as the record shows, they’re having a real drought with convictions — I don’t want to go too deep into that,” Brown said at a community gathering.
Browne suggested that more emphasis needs to be placed on the territory’s prosecutors and claimed that this is where law enforcement was failing the territory.
Meanwhile, Scatliffe-Esprit argued last year that her office was the most misunderstood and undervalued in government. The DPP told lawmakers during the Standing Finance Committee (SFC) budget deliberations that this was reflected in the continued fight for adequate funding and human resources for her office.
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Provide the actual numbers to the public..total number of cases, how many guilty pleas, how many were contested, and how many of those contested trials resulted in convictions
The BVI does not keep statistics how you expect him to get that info?
… but the DPP is useless, and not fit for purpose.
Daniel get from here!! That woman is as incom***ant as they come.
One of the issue is that some police officers seem to be not skilled or objective in bringing concrete evidence on cases. Many of the offenders (who maybe guilty) go back into the community and re-commit sexual abuse, murder etc. which are heinous and serious crimes.
Further, some of the cases are sensationalized with gossip and not facts and ruins the characters of possibly innocent individuals and others directly. Perhaps that is why many indigneous Virgin Islanders choose to migrate now more so than ever. In our small community gossip is sometimes made fact and fact is thrown on the wayside to ruin people we way may not like!
The DPP needs to do a better job in collaborating, directing and working with RVIPF, and other individuals involved in cases to ensure that justice prevails and individual’s character and reputation is not wrongfully maligned at the behest of wicked people whose agenda is only to destroy.
look what is going on in the british virgin islanders. every where bvi islanders go in this world there is always some terrorist lurking around to commit terrorism towards bvi islanders. i came to the usa with my student loan and my scholarship and now my life is messed up at age 56; 22 years ago. i am not a … hooker or a stripper but whenever international students come to the usa to study terrorist would find a way to destroy other people’s life.
What are you talking about?!?!?!?!?!? SMH
Simply looking a job. She’s been incompetent from since she return from law school. That’s the fact.
The police is to blame for bad intel and insufficient evidence
If this is true, provide factual information to prove your point.
The DPP needs a wake up call. The fact remains that in high profile cases, that office comes up empty too often. Too many people accused of crimes have gotten off scot free.
I have heard the DPP complain of lack of funding for that office which affects staffing, and issues relating to poor evidence from the RVIPF, and that has to be taken into consideration.
However, it’s imperative that the DPP office assess all evidence before bringing a case to trial.
If there are problems with evidence, there is nothing wrong with not bringing that case forward until such time more investigation and evidence is discovered.
So, in my view, the DPP office has a responsibly to weight the evidence they have before they bring cases to trial. Don’t bring crappy cases without the evidence to court and expect a win.
It just seems to me objectively looking at the outcome of many of those lost cases gone by that the DPP office come off as week and incompetent and quite often out lawyered by the defense. That’s what I think is the reason in part why they have a conviction drought.
In some ways as bad as that is, it’s also good, and how the system should work. The prosecution job is to prove these cases beyond a shadow of doubt. If they can’t then those accused of crimes, needs to be set free. The burden of proof lies with the DPP.
However, I think that office can do much better. They ought to do better and stop complaining about the criticism they are receiving for not getting convictions.
With all due respect to Attorney Davies, people pleading guilty is easy for the DPP, but when it comes to the DPP going in to court and proving a case, they too often fail in that task. It appears they cannot win a case in court if their lives depended on it.
Quite frankly, I think that office needs an urgent shake up inclusive of a new DPP because as it is the public perception is that people cannot get justice in the courts, and that is not a good thing.
Stop complaining DPP, stop defending ineptitude. We need a DPP who can get the job done. She is getting some slack because she is a local as far as I’m concerned, but she is coming up short, need to do much better, or get sacked.
Bottom line: Her trial record of convictions is abysmal, and that’s where it counts more in the publics eyes.
The DPP brings cases against people that are not supported by the evidence. This causes the tax payers money both in trial costs and possible law suits that follow. The holder of that post needs to be held more accountable.
The truth hurts. You literally get away with murder in BVI. Either inc8mpetent or c8rrupt, or both….
Boy move… when you have killers going through the court system and walking away stott free something wrong. When you have man waiting 7 years for a trial to be found not guilty something wrong. When you have judges scolding the prosecution for not being ready something wrong. The scrutiny not falling out of thin air.
“He further argued that 90 per cent of the cases that appear before the courts result in guilty pleas.”
And I bet you if those 90 percent had taken a chance and plead not guilty and gone to trial, all 90 percent of them would have walked out of the court free.
That’s how incompetent the office is.
COI outfall ( they have a little list yes they have a little list ) possible prosecutions will presumably be ran from this department why would dishonest members train,update,fund, or improve this departments success rate when very possible their own head and those of their friends are possible next on the block.
The DPP not less is them dirty cop think because they are police bring case that’s not true just because they don’t like the person. Them police in the night club every night buying bi*ch drink and if they don’t like the man the bi*ch with them set u up. See London looks like a drink jabb jabb London u stop going on your mom when u drink.
the dpp lose a lot of cases because the cops are corrupt, in many cases they tamper with evidence etc
DPP lose because they are underfunded. The reason for that is the big cronies and Ministersneed to not be convicted. No big case against important people succeeds. It is that simple. Government does not want an effective functioning DPP. Corruption right there in your face.
In addition to other things that needs to be restructured, the jury panel/pool needs to be better prepared and managed for all cases.
Why I did not vote for this individual was because he didn’t have his shirt tucked into his pants properly…seemed a bit scruffy. Since then, every word out of his mouth has been questionable, empty, no substance, no purpose, void and useless. The moral is always trust your instincts. The smallest thing could be the only warning sign you need.
good point but the cases i keep seeing in the news that lost are murder cases. so if these people were truly guilty but dpp was lacking in presentation then i am very worried bcuz that mean murders are being sent free back into the community
he forgot that he too bashed and criticized that department.