While the Barrow recusal was the headline story out of the Court of
Appeal this morning, this afternoon the retirement of Justice Boyd Carey took
centre stage. During a special sitting of the Court of Appeal today members
of the bench and bar gathered in the Chief Justice’s courtroom to pay
tribute to Justice Carey for his ten years of service to the judiciary and Belizean
people. Those invited to speak on behalf of the legal community included President
of the Court of Appeal Elliott Mottley, President of the Bar Association Jackie
Marshallek, Senior Counsel Rodwell Williams and Registrar Velda Flowers.
Everyone described Carey as one of the Caribbean’s most eminent
jurists, filled with wisdom, wit and a wealth of legal experience. Carey has
served as a Justice of Appeal for the past thirty years in his native Jamaica,
Bahamas and then Belize. Following his emotional goodbye to the Belizean bench,
Carey spoke with Janelle Chanona.
Justice Boyd Carey, Retiring
“When I got here I never felt that I was in a strange country. As
I indicated during my speech, my sister had come here many years ago and made
her contribution and I had met many Belizeans at the law school and that goes
back quite a long while. It might not be known that even the Prime Minister
himself was one of my students and I can say that anybody who has done law from
Belize and attended Norman Manley Law School up to 1997 would have been aware
of me.
So in so far as Belize people are concerned, I am happy I came here. I
have met wonderful people, who have been very kind to me. I have danced the
punta, a dance I’ve never heard of before, and I have been all over your
country. So I am aware of not only flora and fauna and the foibles but I find
it very fascinating and interesting. I like the Creole talk where everybody
says forget but I am told in Jamaica we call ‘er’ – ‘ah’
– a ‘computer’ is pronounced ‘computa.’ A ‘driver’
is a ‘driva.’ So we all have peculiarities and I love the peculiarities
of Belizeans “
Janelle Chanona,
“Looking back at your decade long service in the Belizean jurisdiction,
any cases spring to mind? Anything you will take away with you?”
Justice Boyd Carey,
“Well I learnt that politics plays a very significant role in the
life of this country. It is not for me to comment very much on that area of
your social life but perhaps it plays far too much significance in a small society.
It is very distressing to try cases involving government officials, whether
they be Ministers or other limbs of the state. So I will take that back with
me sadly.”
In his prepared comments to invited guests in the courtroom Justice
Carey went on record today to talk about Barrow's presence in the
judiciary. According to the outgoing Justice Carey, Justice Barrow, in an ideal
world should be President of the Eastern Caribbean Court of Justice. But
the judge did not stop at the words of praise stating that in his opinion,
Barrow may find himself having to recuse himself from cases that involve
organs of the state because of the appearance of bias.
Carey and the other non-resident Justices of the Court of Appeal depart
Belize tomorrow. While Carey says he does not know what his future will hold,
we are somewhat certain it will not be boring as Carey is currently the chairman
of the Finsac Commission of Enquiry which was set up to examine the circumstances
that led to the collapse of Jamaica’s financial sector in the 1990s.
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