Dominica welcomes CCJ ruling on case involving Jamaican entertainer Tommy Lee
The Dominica government on Monday welcomed a ruling by the Trinidad-based Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) dismissing an application filed by local show promoter, Cabral Douglas, in which he accused the government of causing a breach of contract with the Jamaican entertainer Tommy Lee Sparta’.
The CCJ is the island’s highest court and the matter was the first filed since the island in 2015, became a full member of the CCJ that was established in 2001 to replace the London-based Privy Council.
While Douglas has not yet reacted to the ruling handed down by a Five-member panel of Judges headed by the Court’s President, Sir Dennis Byron, Dominica’s Attorney General, Levi Peter, speaking on the state-owned DBS radio, said Douglas did not meet the criteria for filing the matter before the CCJ, which has both an Appellate and Original Jurisdiction and serves an international tribunal interpreting the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas (RTC) that governs the regional integDouglas had alleged that the action of the Roosevelt Skerrit government also caused multiple violations of his rights under the RTC, but the CCJ ruled that Douglas had failed to prove a breach of treaty rights which were intended to benefit him directly.
Tommy Lee, 26,whose real name is Leroy Russell, was scheduled to perform at a concert in February 2014, when on his arrival with three members of his team — Tiasha Oralie Russell, Junior Fraser and Mario Christopher Wallace — they were all denied entry, detained and deported the following day.
The Dominica government said its action was based in the interest of public safety as several organisations, including the Dominica Association of Evangelical Churches, had denounced the artiste’s appearance saying his music glorifies Satan and promotes lawlessness and violence.