Justice Seymour Panton to chair Tivoli Enquiry-recommended compensation committee
KINGSTON, Jamaica — Justice Seymour Panton has been appointed as chair of the compensation committee to investigate claims brought by aggrieved persons and to determine the compensation payable to the injured and personal representatives of the deceased following the events of May 2010.
According to a news release from the Ministry of Justice, the appointment of the retired president of the Court of Appeal is in keeping with the recommendation of the Commission of Enquiry Report for a retired judge or senior attorney-at-law with expertise and experience in the assessment of compensation for personal injuries and death to chair the committee.
In May 2010, more than 70 Jamaicans were killed during a joint police-military operation to apprehend then don Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke in Tivoli Gardens.
The ministry said that the decision of the government to establish the compensation committee means that it will not rely on the defense of the expiry of the limitation period as stipulated in Jamaican law.
“Justice Seymour Panton is a prominent Caribbean jurist who has been appointed by the secretary-general of the United Nations as judge of the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals. He served as president of the Court of Appeal of Jamaica as well as other judicial positions in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. He is also a member of the Commonwealth Secretariat Arbitral Tribunal,” the ministry said.
The release stated that the two remaining members of the committee will be named to allow for its work to begin by the end of October. Cabinet has also instructed that the compensation committee concludes its work within nine months of its appointment as was recommended in the Commission of Enquiry Report.
The Ad Hoc Committee of Cabinet submitted reports to the Cabinet, which provided information on the progress of the ministries of justice and national security in implementing 14 of the 15 recommendations.
It is expected that the final report of the Ad Hoc Committee will be made before the end of October, which will form the basis for statements from the prime minister, the minister of justice and the minister of national security to the Parliament.
Prime minister Andrew Holness established the Ad Hoc Committee in June to examine and review the recommendations of the Commission of Enquiry and to advise the Cabinet on the way forward.
