Visiting judge sworn and jury selected for Bush trial

(CNS): Justice Stanley John has been sworn in by Governor Jane Owen so that he can sit on the Cayman bench to preside over the trial of former premier and former speaker McKeeva Bush. Following a survey of prospective jurors, a panel of seven members and four alternates were selected Monday ahead of the trial, which is due to start on 19 February. Bush is charged with assaulting two female civil servants at an official cocktail event during a regional tourism conference at the Ritz Carlton in September 2022.

Bush has vehemently denied the allegations and even suggested that the case is politically motivated and that there had been undue interference to bring a prosecution by the governor’s office.

The acting judge, who will preside over the jury trial, was appointed on advice from the Judicial and Legal Services Commission. Given Bush’s long political history here, it would have been inappropriate for his case to be judged by a member of the local bench familiar with the veteran representative who has held numerous high offices.

According to a release from Judicial Administration, Justice John is a national of Trinidad and Tobago who has had a long and illustrious career.  He was called to the bar in 1972. In 1994, he was appointed to the Trinidad and Tobago High Court and served in that role until 2002. That year, he was elevated to the Court of Appeal, where he served until 2009, when he was appointed to the Court of Appeal of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas and served on their Appellate Court up until 2014.

Between 2016 and 2019, Justice John served as an acting judge in the Turks and Caicos Islands and the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court. In January 2020, he was appointed a Judge of Appeal of the Turks and Caicos Islands and continues to serve in that capacity.