DOUBLE murder convict Mervin Cameron, who in 2023 lost his suit challenging the initial three-year extension of Director of Public Prosecutions Paula Llewellyn’s tenure in 2020, has suffered another loss with the Court of Appeal Court ruling against him in the matter.

The Appeal Court on Friday, in dismissing Cameron’s claim, said having given careful consideration to the submissions in the appeal, which was argued by Attorney Hugh Wildman, it found that he had “failed to make good any of the grounds advanced”.

“In the result, the appeal must be dismissed. Additionally, as the grounds were all lacking in merit, [we] see no reason to depart from the general rule that costs follow the event. [We] would, therefore, order as follows: the appeal is dismissed. Costs of the appeal to the respondent, to be agreed or taxed,” the judgment handed down by Justices Frank Williams, Evan Brown and Kissock Laing said.

The court pointed out that Cameron had changed his position from what he complained about in his first affidavit.

Cameron, in the first affidavit and in his fixed date claim form, had sought to challenge the extension on the basis that it had not been gazetted as required by law, but in the further affidavit — the gazette having been produced by the respondent [the Attorney General] — his main contention was that the extension ought to have been granted before the DPP had reached age 60 and not on or after her 60th birthday, as was done.

The judges of the Appeal Court, in commenting on this stance, said, “In relation to the appellant’s contention that the grant of the extension must precede the attainment of the retirement age of 60, [we] find that position to be untenable. In the first place, the Concise Oxford Dictionary, 10th edition, defines ‘extension’ as: ‘an additional period of time given to someone to hold office or fulfil an obligation’. On this simple dictionary definition, therefore, an extension is something that is added to what has normally come to an end.”

“Additionally, this interpretation is reinforced by the use of the words ‘has attained the age of 60 years’ in the section as the point from which permission may be granted for the DPP to continue in office for a further period.

“[We] agree with the respondent’s submission that to accept the meaning contended for by the appellant would result in an absurdity and make worthless the use of the just-quoted phrase, using the words ‘has attained’, ” the judges said in the judgment.

In July of 2023, a constitutional full court had thrown out Cameron’s original claim in which he had sought several orders in respect of the extension of tenure granted to Llewellyn in 2020.

By that extension, the DPP was permitted to continue to serve in the office beyond the constitutionally specified norm of 60 years, to 63 years, ending in 2023. She was, however, later allowed a further extension to 65 years and will demit office this September.

That decision was upheld by the Appeal Court in December last year following a constitutional challenge brought by the parliamentary Opposition that April.

Cameron, who was convicted and sentenced during the DPP’s tenure, was charged jointly with Christopher Wilson for the murder of 43-year-old deputy chief of security at Jamaica Postal Service, Barrington Davis, and Davis’s female friend Syndia Barnswell.

The two were kidnapped from Davis’s St John’s Heights home in St Catherine in August 2012 and their bodies found less than a month later with gunshot wounds in bushes at Inswood in the parish.

Cameron in 2018 successfully sued the State for having him in custody for five years without a trial.

He was convicted for the murders in June of 2019 and ordered to serve 35 years’ imprisonment before being eligible for parole; he is appealing that decision. He also asserts his innocence of the charge and further contends that there was no evidence to ground his conviction.