Gov. ‘personally disappointed’ in Kernohan
A day after being publicly accused of a potential ‘unlawful and irrational exercise’ of his executive power, Cayman Islands Governor Stuart Jack has sacked his accuser, Police Commissioner Stuart Kernohan.
The firing comes about two months after Governor Jack announced he had begun a disciplinary review of Mr. Kernohan’s employment. The Governor said in September that the commissioner had refused to return to Cayman after being asked to do so on three separate occasions.
Mr. Kernohan was placed on required leave on 27 March, along with two other top-ranking Royal Cayman Islands Police officers, to ‘facilitate’ an investigation into misconduct at the police force.
‘After reviewing all the circumstances of Mr. Kernohan’s conduct as it relates to the terms and conditions of his employment, including his continuous absence from the islands, I am left with no option but to accept that he has unilaterally severed his contract with the Cayman Islands government, and I now therefore treat it as at an end,’ a statement from the Governor read.
Since late March, Mr. Kernohan has been on required leave from the RCIPS and has been receiving full pay. He left Cayman for his native Scotland in April to be with his dying father and has never returned.
A spokesman for Mr. Kernohan released a letter Monday afternoon that had been sent to the Governor by the commissioner’s attorneys on 9 October. The two-page letter demanded that he reinstate the ousted top cop, apologise to him, and fork over an undetermined monetary settlement.
The letter implied that legal action could be taken if requests were not met.
‘I am personally disappointed that Mr. Kernohan would publish private correspondence sent to me at a time when we consider potential disciplinary acts against him,’ Mr. Jack’s statement read. ‘Not only was this an inappropriate action, but the letter also contains groundless allegations, which I categorically refute.’
The Governor’s comments are believed to refer to statements made in the 9 October letter which included claims that keeping Mr. Kernohan on required leave was a breach of his contract of employment and might have been an ‘unlawful and irrational exercise of [Mr. Jack’s] executive power as Governor…’
Mr. Kernohan had not responded by press time to the Governor’s statement, which was sent out late Tuesday afternoon.
It is not clear whether representatives for Mr. Kernohan knew about his upcoming firing before sending the letter to the press. However, the commissioner’s spokesman, David Legge, said it was ‘disingenuous’ for the Governor to infer that the correspondence was ‘private.’
The last line of the 9 October letter stated: ‘This is an open letter.’
The Caymanian Compass had requested copies of correspondence sent on behalf of Commissioner Kernohan and RCIPS Chief Superintendent John Jones on 11 October after the newspaper learned the two men were seeking reinstatement. Those letters were not produced at that time.
The commissioner’s firing clears the way for a full-time replacement to head the RCIPS. Acting Commissioner David George has served in Mr. Kernohan’s position since 27 March, but is expected to leave the island by the end of this month.
Another Acting Police Commissioner, Royce Hipgrave, has been appointed to replace Mr. George. There has been no indication from the Governor’s office whether the veteran of the Sussex Police force is anything more than a temporary appointment. Mr. Hipgrave arrived on island earlier this week.
Mr. Jack said he has asked government officials to begin the recruitment process for a new full time commissioner.
The investigation into Mr. Kernohan, as well as Deputy RCIPS Commissioner Rudi Dixon and Chief Superintendent Jones, is continuing. Officers from the UK Metropolitan Police service are looking into whether the three men committed any crimes in connection with an unauthorised search of local newspaper publisher Desmond Seales’ office on 3 September, 2007.
Messrs. Jones and Dixon continue to receive their salaries from the department while allegations against them are investigated. Both men have remained on island during the course of the probe.
None of the three men have been arrested or charged in connection with that case, although Mr. Dixon has been charged in an entirely separate matter.
‘I am advised that the termination of [Mr. Kernohan’s] contract…does not in any way affect the ongoing police investigation against Mr. Kernohan, whom I understand the police intend to interview shortly,’ Governor Jack said.
Questions about how much longer the UK Met investigation might continue, how much it has cost, who’s in charge of it, and whether its participants are bound by the immigration laws of the Cayman Islands have gone unanswered by Governor Jack and British police officials.
In the final line of his statement about Mr. Kernohan’s firing, the Governor said he ‘will continue to ensure that the public is kept up-to-date as developments take place.’
Mr. Kernohan
Mr. Jack
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