Jamaican freed of murder charge due to State’s blunder 

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SOURCE: ANTIGUA OBESERVER- Jamaican national Methoni Vernon walked away a free man on Monday after High Court Judge Justice Tunde Bakre discharged him of a murder charge. 

The decision comes after the judge sided with Vernon’s lawyer, who argued that the manner in which his client was brought to Antigua to face the charge breached his rights.

Affidavits from police confirmed that proper extradition procedures were not followed.

Justice Bakre granted a stay of proceedings, declaring that the State’s actions amounted to an abuse of the court process which is likely to prevent Vernon from receiving a fair trial.

In his ruling, the judge emphasized that there was no record of a formal extradition process for Vernon from Dominica to Antigua.

Notably, Vernon had not been officially charged when he left Antigua a few days after the killing, and it was only after his extradition to Antigua in 2016 that he was formally charged by police in Antigua.

Vernon faced allegations stemming from the July 1, 2014 murder of 47-year-old farmer Roy Carradice, who was attacked and shot multiple times during a robbery at his farm near the Cassada Gardens Race Track.

Following the murder, police investigations quickly focused on Vernon and others, linking them to the shooting.

The case took an unexpected turn in 2016. While in Dominica with his child and partner, Vernon was detained after Dominican immigration reported that he had overstayed his permitted time. He was not shown the warrant for his arrest.

He was later informed that he would be deported to Jamaica. However, instead of following the customary judicial process, Antigua police allegedly coordinated with Dominican authorities.

At least two Antiguan police officers travelled to Dominica, kept Vernon under observation until he landed in Antigua, and arrested him at the V.C. Bird International Airport before he could disembark the plane.

Vernon’s attorney Andrew O’Kola, who was not present during Monday’s ruling, had insisted that the sequence of events leading to his client’s arrest was a flagrant violation of the legal process.

O’Kola argued that Vernon’s detention was outside of the legal provision for extradition and should be viewed as a disguised or illegal extradition.

He contends that the incident was nothing short of a “kidnapping” that resulted in a breach of his client’s rights.

Before the incident, Vernon had resided in Antigua for 15 years. 

While State authorities continue to view Vernon as a suspect in the murder of Carradice, the procedural irregularities surrounding his arrest and extradition have forced the court to dismiss the charge.  

However, the State maintains that Vernon left Antigua to Dominica through illegal means of entry.

They claim that shortly after the murder, authorities suspected Vernon due to his apparent attempt to flee the jurisdiction, left Antigua without using the airport, and could not be immediately located.

In December 2015, police received credible information that Vernon was in Dominica illegally.

Two Antiguan police officers involved in his return reported that they were instructed by the Commissioner of Police to accompany a suspect on a flight from Dominica to Antigua, with explicit instructions not to take him into custody until he landed.

When they went to Dominica, they met with local police but were unaware of any formal documentation or legal arrangements for his deportation.

Affidavits were obtained to clarify these details, and additional efforts to secure a statement from the Police Commissioner — Wendel Alexander formerly Wendel Robinson — at the time were unsuccessful.  

On January 16, 2016, Vernon was returned to Antigua and charged with murder. However, the trial began in 2018 with a voir dire—a preliminary examination—focused on a statement Vernon allegedly gave to the police.

In that statement, he purportedly admitted to participating in the robbery and mentioned that while he fired a shot, his accomplice fired more. Vernon contended that this statement was the result of police coercion.

The voir dire process extended over several days. During this phase, as the judge was preparing to rule, he made assertions against Vernon’s counsel, alleging improper conduct and collusion with the police. This led to a declaration of a mistrial.

After the mistrial, the case was set for retrial. Amid these proceedings, Vernon was granted bail in 2023. He initially retained attorney O’Kola, who later claimed non-performance.

Subsequently, Vere Bird III took over representation, but that arrangement eventually broke down, prompting O’Kola to resume his role as counsel.

A retrial was scheduled to commence on July 1, 2024, but on  June 27th, attorney O’Kola filed an application to halt the proceedings on the grounds of abuse of process. He argued that the way Vernon was returned to Antigua was unlawful.

The December 5th, 2024 hearing centred on O’Kola’s application for a stay of proceedings on the grounds of international law breaches, constitutional violations, and an overall infringement of the rule of law.

Supporting O’Kola’s arguments, a 2023 report from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) detailed the alleged human rights violations, the State’s response, and its conclusions on the admissibility of the claims.

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