A letter released to the local press Monday afternoon on behalf of ousted Police Commissioner Stuart Kernohan has revealed that the commissioner demanded to be reinstated to his position more than a month ago.
The 9 October letter, sent by attorneys at the Campbell’s law firm to Governor Stuart Jack, has never been answered.
“We…require you, within 7 days, to confirm in writing that any investigation against Mr. Kernohan is at an end,” the 9 October letter stated. “To reinstate him to his position within the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service, with a full public apology, a full indemnity against his legal costs and payment to him of a sum (to be agreed) in relation to the damage you have caused to his reputation by way of damages for breach of contract, malicious prosecution and/or slander or libel, failing which Mr. Kernohan’s rights are fully reserved.”
Attorneys state that Governor Jack’s decision to keep the commissioner on required leave is a “serious breach of [Mr. Kernohan’s] contract of employment” and may be “an unlawful and irrational exercise of your executive power as Governor of these islands.”
Mr. Kernohan’s attorneys go on to state that the commissioner has been “deprived” of his office “for no good reason.”
In their argument for reinstatment, lawyers reference a 4 April judgment by Cayman Islands Chief Justice Anthony Smellie in which Mr. Smellie denied search warrants against Mr. Kernohan and Police Superintendent John Jones partly because he ruled the two men had committed no criminal acts.
Both Mr. Kernohan and Mr. Jones were removed from office in late March and were later placed under investigation in connection with allegations of misconduct in a public office. Neither man has been arrested or charged with any crimes.
Mr. Kernohan’s lawyers, in the 9 October letter, question whether any progress has been made in that investigation since the Chief Justice’s 4 April ruling.
Mr. Jack and Senior Investigating Officer Martin Bridger, the man leading the misconduct investigation at the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service, have recently declined to comment on numerous occasions regarding the on-going probe.
Read more in Wednesday’s Caymanian Compass….
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