KINGSTOWN, St Vincent (CMC) — A High Court judge has dismissed an application by a member of the main opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) for judicial review who sought to question the decision of the authorities to revoke his licence to possess a firearm.

   High Court judge Justice Brian Cottle ruled that Benjamin Exeter had advanced no “good reasons for failing to pursue the alternative forms of redress” adding that the opposition politician “must first exhaust the alternative forms of redress and if he is still not satisfied he may then apply for leave”.

   The court heard that Exeter, who unsuccessfully contested the December 9 general elections last year as a candidate for the NDP in the Central Leeward constituency, was arrested outside the House of Assembly while the new Members of Parliament were being sworn in.

   At the time of his arrest, Exeter had in his possession a firearm for which he held a licence. The court was told “as the events unfolded, the applicant was arrested by the police and his weapon was seized”.

   Following his arrest, Exeter received a letter from Godfrey Pompey, the chairperson of the Firearms Licensing Board informing him that the licence which he had been granted on May 21, 2015 was being “revoked with immediate effect”.

   The letter which was also copied to the Commissioner of Police and other law enforcement authorities, informed Exeter that “the firearm will be kept in the police custody for safe keeping and any additional ammunition must be turned over to the police”.

   In the application for judicial review, the attorney for Exeter argued that no reason had been given to his client regarding the decision to revoke the licence.

   The lawyer, Emery Robertson, argued that Exeter was given no opportunity to be heard before the decision was taken to revoke the licence.

   But Justice Cottle told the attorney that only one matter was of concern to him and invited him to address the issue of whether any alternative remedy to judicial review existed and if so, why was it thought that judicial review proceedings were the most appropriate way to seeking address.

   Robinson provided the court with written submissions with Section 13 of the Firearms Act allowing for a person aggrieved by a revocation of his firearm licence “to appeal in writing to the Minister and thereafter to the Cabinet if not satisfied by the response of the minister”.

   The judge noted that Exeter had decided to forego these alternatives and that his attorney was “unable to explain to the court why the mere exercise of executive authority can only be corrected by judicial intervention”.

   Justice Cottle said that the “court should consider whether the alternative statutory remedy will resolve the question of issue fully and directly and whether the statutory procedure would be quicker or slower than the procedure by way of judicial review and whether the matter depends on some particular or technical knowledge which is more readily available to the alternative appellate body”.

   Justice Cottle said that he also considered the case put forward by Robertson that in exceptional circumstances, the court in its discretion should grant judicial review to an applicant who had not exhausted his alternative rights of appeal.

   “Applying this principle to the instant case I do not consider that there exists such exceptional circumstances so as to merit the grant of judicial review when the applicant has not availed himself of the alternative remedies provided in the Firearm Act,” the judge ruled, making no order for costs.