MANDEVILLE, Manchester — Paula Llewellyn on Wednesday mounted a stout defence of her stewardship as director of public prosecutions (DPP) as she encouraged justices of the peace to maintain their integrity regardless of the challenges they face.

“Above all, no matter what attempts are made to deflect you from the right path, when it comes to your honesty you have to have that will and courage to be able to stay the course, continuing the embrace of your integrity and that, in fact, is what I have to do as DPP,” she said, adding that public service can be met with “a lot of ingratitude”.

“However, at the heart of it you must be able to self-actualise, self-motivate, because your cause is good, and that is service above self.

“When that reservoir [of courage] runs down, you have to make sure that you have a way of topping it up, so that you are able to face and overcome the obstacles, the challenges which are the inevitable consequence of the process of living… Respect for the public interest means that one must be prepared to give service above self, cost it what it will,” she said.

Llewellyn’s charge to Manchester justices of the peace during their general meeting at deCarteret College in Mandeville was an obvious response to the controversy triggered by the contentious constitutional debate in Parliament on Tuesday which ended with the Government using its majority to change the retirement age of the DPP and the auditor general from 60 to 65.

The Government had brought the amendment to the constitution to the House arguing that is was a proposal previously considered by Cabinet during the deliberations on the Pensions Bill in 2017.

Justice Minister Delroy Chuck had pointed out that constitutionally established ceiling for the age of retirement for the auditor general and the DPP was actually five years shorter in duration when compared to the upper limit set in the Pensions (Public Service) Act for a public officer in the civil service.

However, Opposition Leader Mark Golding objected to the amendment, saying it was brought to the House without prior notice and without the required consultation with the Opposition.

In her address on Wednesday Llewellyn referenced that parliamentary debate.

“Over the last few days there has been what one could refer to as static in the atmosphere surrounding the DPP and, dare I say, the auditor general, but such is public life at the highest level and those of us who join it to give service at the highest level recognise that the slings and arrows will always be there waiting for you, but at the end of the day when you go through the fire you must come through the fire like finely tempered steel and allow no one to deflect you from your commitment to give service above self,” she said.

Llewellyn, who sometimes uses cricketing analogies in response to issues relating to her or her office likened her tenure in office, so far, to that of a “master batsman”.

“After 15 years as DPP I have learnt that you must be able to pick up the line of the delivery, and know which ball to play and which ball to leave alone,” she told the JPs.

She also took a swipe at people who use traditional and social media to spread inaccuracy.

“Unfortunately, the ubiquitous media — electronic and otherwise, even more so social media, which in its bad times can be the purveyor of misinformation and alternative truth — celebrates perception over reality,” said Llewellyn, who also reminded her audience that she has received death threats in executing her job as the country’s chief prosecutor.

Additionally, she pointed out that the remit of the DPP as well as that of the auditor general will require them “to make adverse decisions against people from every walk of life”, be they the wealthy, the not so wealthy, people in political office, law enforcement, or colleague public servants “and I do it unflinchingly”, said Llewellyn.

“Doing the right thing, in terms of giving service above self, means that you must not allow yourself to be distracted and you must keep your eye on the course in giving service above self by not having any loss of enthusiasm,” she stressed.

“There will always be those who criticise and may have ulterior motives to be toxic and to spread disruptive criticism. There will always be those who will always want to watch things happen, but will never want to interact or participate to make positive, good things happen,” added Llewellyn.

“I don’t ever allow myself to grow resentful of those who criticise, because I can assure you, and it has happened time and time again, somebody can subject me to unfair criticism. I have gotten it from editorial pages or somebody can [say] something in the public domain or even in Parliament that is unfair,” she said.

“I can have defence counsel say something in the public domain, which is unfair or based on a false premise, and my maturity, my mental toughness, my ability to focus on giving service above self is so developed that the very next day I will bend over backwards to make sure that the same person gets full justice, objective assessment and consideration,” she added.

“I am not into the petty thing. I am not into the tearing down, and I don’t believe in the scorched earth policy that some persons want to take on, destroy, assassinate, shoot the messenger in order to destroy the message, even when it is positive,” the DPP said.