FINAL leave has been granted to the State to challenge the Court of Appeal’s ruling which allows for anyone charged with murder to apply for bail.

This comes after the State fulfilled the requirements for final-leave permission after receiving conditional leave on March 3 by paying the security deposit of 500 British pounds (or TT$4,435) and settling the record of appeal for the prosecution of the appeal at the Privy Council.

On February 17, the Court of Appeal, comprising Chief Justice Ivor Archie and Justices of Appeal Mira Dean-Armorer and Malcolm Holdip, upheld the appeal of a former murder accused, Akilli Charles, who challenged the constitutionality of section 5(1) of the Bail Act of 1994, which made murder a non-bailable offence.

The judges held the section was unconstitutional as it interfered with the court’s jurisdiction to grant bail, in breach of the separation of powers, and was not reasonably justifiable in a society that has proper respect for the rights and freedoms of the individual.

The court’s order had been temporarily suspended, but on March 3 it refused a further extension to allow the State to appeal to the London court.

In refusing the application for the extended stay/suspension, the Chief Justice said the court did not have the jurisdiction to grant one as it was not a money judgment, nor were there statutory provisions to do so.

The panel did grant conditional leave and reduced the time required to pay the deposit and settle the record of appeal. It is expected the State will seek a stay at the court in London.

In an oral ruling, Archie said the court had to consider if when refusing a stay, it would pose a danger to the public, the threat to the rule of law, the concerns of security.

But, he said it would be inimical to continue to fail to enforce the constitutional rights of citizens when the courts have declared people are entitled to such protection.

He warned that even if 1,000 bail applications were to be filed, they can’t all be heard at once.

“We expect any application for bail will be dealt with dispatch by the judges hearing them, and after they are satisfied they have before them all information for the grant of bail.

“This is a case-management issue we have to leave to the discretion of the judges of the High Court.”

So far, there have been a few applications for bail by people charged with murder, but these have been adjourned as the State has asked for time to gather the relevant information before treating with such an application, including seeking bio-social reports from the prison.

In an affidavit in support of the extended suspension of the Appeal Court's decision, Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) Roger Gaspard SC, spoke of staff shortages in the department and said his office was operating with 46 attorneys, one-third of its approved complement of 137, and prosecutors now had the growing responsibility of all criminal cases in 39 magisterial courts, nine high courts, appeal courts, and bail applications, including those filed by people a