Press Association urges Supreme Court to allow media to observe Jolyan Silvera murder case

By Nakinskie Robinson    

 

In a pre-emptive move, the Press Association of Jamaica has called for the Supreme Court to reject any decision to bar the media from observing future court proceedings in the Jolyan Silvera murder case.

 

The former parliamentarian, who is charged with the murder of his wife Melissa, made his first appearance in the Home Circuit Court Thursday.

 

Speaking with Radio Jamaica News, former PAJ President George Davis said the Association, representing the fourth estate, is alarmed and disappointed by the presiding judge's decision to bar media and family members from the courtroom for Thursday's preliminary hearing.

 

Justice Vinette Graham-Allen said discretion was needed in every case. 

 

But Mr. Davis contends that the move cripples press freedom and the media's ability to report on a case that has garnered public attention. 

 

"It suggests that media freedom is not primary among the interests that justice seeks to serve, and it also suggests that the public interest should be subsumed in the name of other considerations. I say other considerations because Madame Justice wasn't kind enough to explain to the media precisely why she had taken this decision," Mr. Davis asserted. 

  

He further argued that Thursday's decision fuels public scrutiny about the criminal justice system. 

 

"We have a justice system that is not merely coddling corrupt officers. I think we have a healthy, strong justice system, which is why the events on Thursday are so dangerous because it threatens to weaken this strong institution. And those who will all end up negative things to see about the judiciary, this just feeds into the conspiracy that they've been cooking in their heads and gives life to their arguments that we have a system that is set up to dole out justice to some, but to dole out injustice to others." 

 

Calling the incident unprecedented, Mr. Davis pointed out that the press has not been allowed to report live despite the case being the first in Jamaica's history that there is an ex-legislator is before the court for murder.  

 

"It's a no-no. It should not have happened in the first place. We are asking for there to not be a repeat and we're calling on the Chief Justice to ensure that the right things happen on February 8th when Mr. Silvera is due back at court," he declared.