ROSEAU, Dominica (CMC) – Justice Minister, Rayburn Blackmoore has urged the Organization of Commonwealth Caribbean Bar Associations (OCCBA) to stay within the demarcations of its lane.

On Wednesday, the OCCBA said recent statements made by Blackmore, who is also national security minister, were “most unfortunate and disturbing” concerning the granting of bail for double murder accused, Johnathan Lehrer.

The OCCBA said it was joining with its colleagues and members of the legal profession of the Dominican Bar in the standing against the “unfortunate utterances” by Blackmoore.

But in response, Blackmore in a letter to the association’s president said while he will not be engaged in “a back-and-forth” with the Organization of Commonwealth Caribbean Bar Associations and the Dominica Bar Association, he felt obliged to respond.

“It is highly baffling to the reasonable person, that the Organization of Commonwealth Caribbean Bar Associations, by its admission, is saying, individuals including ministers, have the right to respectfully, responsibly, and peacefully disagree with the decisions of the court, but in the very same statement, is at odds with me, for doing precisely the very same thing.”

“This is indeed very unfortunate and the Organization of Commonwealth Caribbean Bar Associations ought not to be issuing such a frivolous statement in response to a legitimate statement, which I have made.

Again, let me reaffirm, that my statement was legitimate and in keeping with preserving national security and public interest.

I, therefore, respectfully submit to the Organization of Commonwealth Caribbean Bar Associations to stay within the demarcations of its lane. Finally, I strongly believe that there are several other very profound matters of national security, and public interest organisations in the region should make statements, instead of the very loud silence, on those other matters,”he said.

Last week, Blackmoore called on the Dominica Bar Association (DBA) to retract its statement accusing him of interference in the independence of the judiciary after it has said “this type of public criticism by a minister of government of a judicial decision unnecessarily casts a shadow over the independence of the judiciary and risks eroding public confidence in our legal system”.

Blackmoore said he was shocked by the response from the DBA and that it should look closely at the law on judicial independence, insisting that there was nothing wrong with the statements on bail granted to Lehrer, an American hotelier, accused of the double murder of Quebec philanthropist Daniel Langlois and his partner Dominique Marchand.

In December last year, murder charges were filed against Lehrer, 57, and his co-accused 62-year-old Robert Snyder Jr, over the deaths of Langlois and Marchand.

The Americans were not required to enter a plea in the magistrate’s court, since murder is an indictable offence and can only be tried before a judge and jury at the High Court.

The prosecution alleges that between November 29 and December 2, 2023, the two Americans murdered Langlois and Marchand. Their bodies were found incinerated in a car near Gallion, in the south of the island where they owned a hotel. Langlois and Marchand had been reported missing for several days.

Last month, Justice Williams outlined several conditions under which bail could be given to Lehrer, including a one million dollar (One EC dollar=US$0.37 cents) bond with a proper and suitable surety.

The preliminary inquiry into the murders began this week but has since been adjourned to February 10 next year. The prosecution returned to the High Court on Wednesday in a bid to get the judge to revoke the bail.