Three charges that were brought against the Director of Prosecutions, Cindy Clarke, by a lawyer accused of murdering Chavelle Dillon-Burgess were today thrown out by Magistrate Tyrone Chin.
Kamal Worrell stood as the informant in court, accusing the DPP of performing several unlawful acts during it’s effort to prosecute him for the murder of Dillon-Burgess, who was allegedly murdered on an unknown date between April 10 and June 11 of 2020.
The first charge stated that between May 13, 2022 and June 2022 Clarke, together with persons unknown had conspired to obstruct, prevent, pervert, or defeat the course of justice in relation to a Supreme Court Case.
The second charge stated that on or about November 3, 2022 Clarke did, without reasonable and lawful excuse, willfully and maliciously abuse her office by procuring, aiding or abetting the imprisonment of Worrell.
The third charge stated that on or about June 9, 2022 Clarke threatened and/or intimidated Worrell, in his account of his being about to appear as a witness in a judicial proceeding.
Meanwhile, in its defence the DPP made several submissions, which proved successful in having the case against the department dismissed.
The DPP’s submissions included:
1.On 13 July 2023, Mr. Kamal Worrell purported to initiate a private prosecution against Ms. Cindy Clarke, concerning serious and unfounded allegations of criminal misconduct related to the discharge of her professional responsibilities as Director of Public Prosecutions.
2. No statements or affidavits accompanied service of the purported Summons and Information and accordingly, the substance that purports to ground the disputed charges eludes proper assessment and evaluation.
3. So much as is known of the substance of the charges comes from the particulars of the counts on the purported Information. The counts refer, respectively, to the murder case in which Mr. Kamal Worrell is charged as Defendant, the revocation of Mr. Kamal Worrell’s bail on that charge of murder, and professional correspondence between counsel concerning the multiplicity of civil proceedings initiated by Mr. Kamal Worrell in the wake of the criminal proceedings against him.
4. The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) is committed to discharging her professional responsibilities with utmost transparency. She acknowledges that she enjoys no immunity from criminal proceedings and, like every other citizen of Bermuda, is subject to the jurisdiction of the courts of Bermuda.
5. Notwithstanding, even though the DPP is not above the law, nor does she hold herself out to be, she is in equal measure not beneath the law, and must benefit from the same fair standards of conduct to which every Bermudian citizen can feel entitled.
Worrell spoke to TNN following the day’s proceedings and vowed to continue his fight in the Supreme Court.
“Well today was not surprising in that we were already informed that all magistrates were conflicted in this matter, so when we saw one of those same magistrates on the bench this morning then obviously questions were raised,” said Worrell. “So we’re not surprised by this.
“Suffice it to say this is only the beginning and I will seek proper redress by way of judicial review as I’m entitled.
“Mistakenly Magistrate Chin said that, and the prosecutor argued, that one of the charges with which Cindy Clarke has been charged was not known to law, but the charge alleged that she abused her office by maliciously and unlawfully procuring my unlawful imprisonment at Westgate for some six weeks.
“That is an offence against the common law there is no section in our criminal could to cite that offence. It’s a ancient offense at common law is called misconduct in public office. It is well known and is in this book, Blackstone and is well known.
“So for the judge to say that there’s no offence name to the law on that and for the prosecution to say that is either disingenuous or incompetence on their part.”
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