The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

COVID restrictions literally provided a get-out-of-jail route for a former airline principal who successfully overturned a one-month prison sentence for contempt of court.

Justice Indra Charles, in a June 8, 2021, verdict committed Albert Rolle, who headed the now-defunct Cat Island Air Company, to the Bahamas Department of Corrections after he failed to pay a $135,000 judgment debt.

However, the Court of Appeal ruled that Mr Rolle was saved by the former Minnis administration’s COVID travel restrictions which prevented him from travelling to Nassau from Cat Island to attend the hearing - which was held on the same day the verdict was rendered.

Noting that the Supreme Court’s rules for contempt hearings require the matter to be heard in “open court”, and that those subject to such proceedings are allowed to give evidence on their behalf, the Court of Appeal said no evidence was presented to show Mr Rolle could attend by other means such as a virtual hearing - even though this was being commonly used in the Bahamian judicial system.

With the Emergency Powers (COVID-19 Pandemic)(Management and Recovery)(North Andros, Central Andros, and Cat Island Lockdown)(Amendment )(No. 3) Order 2021 extended to June 14, 2021, just two days before the contempt hearing, the Court of Appeal found: “The effect of this order was to prohibit travel into and out of Cat Island during that period except for specified emergencies.....

“The judge ought to have known of the restrictions on travel from Cat Island as Parliament passed and gazetted the regulations. The respondent cannot show that alternative arrangements were in place at the hearing to allow for the participation of [Mr Rolle] and that the court communicated this to [him]. In these circumstances, the judge went on and dealt with the motion for contempt, denying the first appellant an opportunity to take part in the hearing of his contempt matter.”

As a result, Mr Rolle’s one-month sentence at the Bahamas Department of Corrections was set aside. The contempt hearing arose after Elma Bain sued him and Cat Island Air in a bid to recover $135,000. They failed to file a defence to the action, resulting in Ms Bain obtaining a default judgment against them.

“The appellants having failed to settle the resulting judgment debt, the respondent sought to have them examined on their means to satisfy the debt,” the Court of Appeal recorded. “The examination took place before the deputy registrar on February 13, 2014, when the first appellant requested an adjournment on his promise to pay the respondent $500 monthly beginning February 18, 2014. Having agreed to the proposal, the judge made the required order.

“The first appellant failed to pay the amounts as agreed and, on January 19, 2021, the respondent applied to the Supreme Court for leave to get an order to commit the first appellant to the Bahamas Department of Corrections. The court granted leave on May 3, 2021.”

Despite the proceedings being served on Mr Rolle, he failed to appear in court for the June 8 hearing, prompting Justice Charles to issue the committal order.