True purpose of Constitutional Amendment Act was to benefit Llewellyn, lawyer contends

By Dionne Jackson Miller   

King's Counsel Michael Hylton on Thursday morning argued that the government's dominant purpose in passing the Constitutional Amendment Act that raised the retirement age of the Director of Public Prosecutions was to benefit the incumbent Paula Llewellyn.

Mr. Hylton, who is representing opposition politicians Phillip Paulwell and Peter Bunting, told the court that the undisputed evidence shows that the government's true purpose in passing the Act was to extend Ms. Llewellyn's tenure so she would not have to vacate the office in September 2023 as the Constitution required.

He pointed to the sequence of events, namely Ms. Llewellyn's February 2023 request for an extension and the Public Service Commission's refusal in a letter which said they were going to look for the next DPP. 

However, he said there was no evidence of any advertisements or attempts to identify a successor. 

Instead, he said, the Constitutional Amendment bill was tabled in Parliament on July 25, 2023, and debated and passed on the same day. The same thing happened in the Senate a few days later on Friday July 28, and the bill was signed into law by the Governor General on the next working day, Monday July 31.

In addition, he said an opposition senator's proposal to delay the bill until January 2024, when Ms. Llewellyn would have left office, was ignored.