Senior Reporter
derek.achong@guardian.co.tt
Chief Justice Ronnie Boodoosingh has been asked to consider implementing a monitoring mechanism when a committee is appointed by a court to administer the affairs of a person suffering from a mental illness.
Attorney Peter Taylor made the call in an open letter sent to CJ Boodoosingh this weekend.
The call was in response to a case in which Taylor is involved, in which three brothers were appointed over their sister to handle the affairs of their elderly mother, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.
Speaking with Guardian Media, Taylor said he felt compelled to write the letter as he was hamstrung from raising issues over the deterioration of the woman’s health since the order was issued in late 2024.
In the letter, which was obtained by Guardian Media, Taylor questioned the recourse available when such orders are being appealed and the patient who is subject to the order is allegedly not receiving the care they require.
“But what happens when the Court gets it horribly wrong and the patient finds himself or herself at the mercy of a committee that does not have the best interest of the patient at heart?” Taylor said.
He noted it would take more than two years for such issues to be raised when an appeal comes up for hearing before the Court of Appeal, leaving a patient in a state of abeyance and at risk.
“This state of affairs represents a serious lacuna in the administration of justice in T&T,” Taylor said.
Taylor recommended that the Civil Proceedings Rules be amended to allow the Office of the Chief State Solicitor, via investigators under the purview of the Ministry of Social Development, to have oversight over such committees to supervise such committees and provide quarterly reports to the Appeal Court in case urgent judicial intervention is required.
“As I join the chorus of well-deserved lavish and effusive praise bestowed on Your Lordship, on your ascension to the Office of Chief Justice, I implore you to proceed post haste to effect necessary changes to the Civil Proceedings Rules,” Taylor said.
In Taylor’s case, a High Court Judge was asked to decide which of the five children of the woman from Diego Martin should be appointed to manage her affairs.
Taylor’s client, who is the woman’s daughter and is also represented by attorney Nehanda Samuel, lived with her mother and father at their home for several years before the issue arose.
When the woman’s husband died in April 2023, he left a will in which he left the house to Taylor’s client.
While one of her four brothers supported her assuming the role based on the care she provided to their parents in the past, their three brothers, including two who recently moved back into the family home, challenged the application.
In December last year, Justice Margaret Mohammed ruled in favour of the three brothers as she found that they were better placed to form the committee because their sister allegedly created a hostile environment at the family’s home before moving out.
In the appeal, Taylor contended that Justice Mohammed erred in her decision.
“The findings of the Court defy logic and common sense, are irrational and against the weight of evidence, are mind-boggling in their pervasiveness and are, to put it bluntly, embarrassing,” Samuel said.
Attached to the appeal were affidavits from several of the woman’s neighbours and friends, who detailed their observations of the care she has received since the order was issued.
One friend, who claimed she would usually drop food for the woman when she cooked, questioned whether she (the woman) was being properly fed.
