In two Facebook posts over the past week, public prosecutors accused the media of “incorrect and incompetent” reporting and insisted that they have not abandoned their case against Opposition Leader Myron Walwyn despite recent setbacks.
In 2022, Mr. Walwyn and Lorna Stevens — who have both maintained their innocence — were charged with breach of trust in connection with a wall project at the Elmore Stoutt High School that was never completed despite more than $1 million spent about 10 years ago.
But early this year, the case derailed in Magistrates’ Court before it even came to trial.
On Jan. 21, Senior Magistrate Tamia Richards upheld no-case submissions brought by attorneys for Mr. Walwyn, who was minister of education and culture at the time of the wall project, and Ms. Stevens, a former assistant secretary with his ministry.
The day after Ms. Richards’ January decision, Director of Public Prosecutions Tiffany Scatliffe filed a notice of appeal. But that appeal proved short-lived: On May 29, Ms. Scatliffe filed to discontinue it.
Media coverage
On Friday, 284 Media published a story titled “DPP quickly back pedals; withdraws application to appeal no case to answer against Walwyn and Stevens.”
But Ms. Scatliffe’s office fired back.
On Saturday, it shared the 284 Media story on Facebook under a strongly worded message that contained spelling and punctuation errors.
“We have not peddled [sic] back,” the office posted. “Please folks stop being mislead [sic] by incompetent and incorrect statements. There are several avenues legally available for dealing with such erroneous decisions. These incorrect stories do not make the ODPP look bad. It [sic] makes the territory looks bad.”
The office later removed the post, replacing it with a lengthier message acknowledging that it had dropped its appeal but explaining that it is instead pursuing a judicial review to challenge “the erroneous position of the magistrate.”
“A certain media outlet published unverified claims and a sensationalized story without adhering to universal basic journalistic standards of fact-checking and balanced reporting,” the post added.
“The media outlet corrected themselves promptly after the ODPP Post and comment and have apologised for the error made. That is why the story now reflects that we are pursing [sic] a JR, that was not the case in the original story posted.”
But 284 Media has not backed down, according to Ronn Grant, the reporter whose name was attached to the article covering the issue.
“284 Media stands by our reporting and we have no further comments,” Mr. Grant told the Beacon.
Judicial review claim
The claim form seeking judicial review is dated April 9 — meaning it was filed about seven weeks before Ms. Scatliffe discontinued her separate appeal last Thursday.
The form — which was signed by Ms. Scatliffe but lists acting Police Commissioner Jacqueline Vanterpool as the sole claimant — asks the High Court for various declarations:
• that Ms. Richards was “plainly wrong” to dismiss the complaints against Mr. Walwyn and Ms. Stevens;
• that Ms. Richards’ decisions were unlawful because she “failed to give cogent reasons” for upholding the no-case submissions; and
• that Ms. Richards exercised her discretion “in a manner that was unfair” to the claimant, among others.
Ultimately, the claim requests an order directing that the cases be returned to the Magistrates’ Court for a new preliminary inquiry before a different magistrate.
The ODPP responded to a request for comment on the matter by sending the Beacon a statement similar to the second one it posted on Facebook.
Mr. Walwyn declined to comment, and attempts to reach Ms. Stevens were unsuccessful. Ms. Richards’ office declined to comment, and Ms. Vanterpool did not respond to a request for comment.
Project criticism
The ESHS wall project, which commenced in December 2014, had faced criticism for years by the time the charges were laid against Mr. Walwyn and Ms. Stevens in 2022.
In a 2018 report, Auditor General Sonia Webster singled out the project for alleged budget overruns and contract splitting, among other issues.
She also asserted that the ministry overspent and likely failed to obtain good value for taxpayers’ money in part because the project was split into more than 70 work orders and 15 petty contracts.
Ultimately, over $1.08 million had been spent on the project by the time work stopped in 2015, Ms. Webster wrote in 2018.
The police opened a criminal investigation into the project in March 2019 but said little about it publicly for three years.
Meanwhile, the issue arose in the Commission of Inquiry in 2021, when Commissioner Sir Gary Hickinbottom questioned public officers about Ms. Webster’s findings.
During the COI, Ms. Stevens explained that Mr. Walwyn chose to carry out the project primarily through work orders rather than petty contracts due to the number of contractors involved.
The minister also selected the contractors, she said.
Walwyn in the COI
During another hearing in September 2021, COI Counsel Bilal Rawat suggested to Mr. Walwyn that the use of work orders resulted in increased costs and undermined the quality of work.
He also suggested that Mr. Walwyn knew this would be the case.
For the first phase of the project, Sir Gary added, Mr. Walwyn could have given one petty contract under $100,000 instead of splitting the $96,000 cost between 11 work orders.
Mr. Walwyn responded, “It could have been done that way, but the Public Finance Management Regulations give powers for ministers to submit work orders. If the power resides in the Public Finance Management Act and the regulations, and the minister uses that power, then to call that contract as if something is wrong is not right because that power should not exist in the law.”
Mr. Walwyn — who has vigorously defended the wall project against criticisms — acknowledged during his COI hearing that he selected the contractors, but he said it was Ms. Stevens’ duty to vet them and make sure they had the required documents to operate.
In a 2022 statement after his arrest, Mr. Walwyn acknowledged “procedural issues” with the wall project, but he sought to downplay them.
“I also do not think that one could find a previously done government project that was faultlessly managed,” he wrote at the time.
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