Attorneys representing the Catholic Church and the St Dominic’s Children’s Home were given until the end of January to submit to the court reasons the legal limit on a lawsuit brought against it should be adhered to.
This was the ruling of Justice Carol Gobin as she seeks to address the first step in the case where five men are suing the church, the children’s home, a former employee of the home and the State for their role and lack thereof in their alleged physical and sexual abuse.
The church and children’s home are being represented by Senior Counsel Gregory Delzin, who initially said he needed until the end of February to get proper instructions as well as records proving the men attended the home during the period they claimed they were abused.
The lawsuit was filed on October 8 and alleged that five were abused and are now suing St Dominic’s Children’s Home (also referred to as the Belmont Orphanage), the Roman Catholic Archdiocese in Port-of-Spain, the Attorney General, the Statutory Authorities Service Commission, and a former employee at the children’s home who was later charged with buggery, attempted buggery, and serious indecency.
The filing of the lawsuit comes after the men issued pre-action protocol letters in 2022, seeking at the time some $2.5 million for six alleged victims. When the pre-action protocol letter was issued in 2022, Delzin argued that the lawsuit was filed outside the legal limit as allowed under the Limitation of Certain Actions Act.
According to the Act, a claim must be made within four years of the alleged offence. The lawsuit said the offences are alleged to have occurred between 1986 and 2005. Gobin, however, has the authority to waive that.
The AG’s office was represented by Mary Davis, who asked to submit reasons the state should not be involved. Gobin said the issue did not arise at this time.
Shastri Roberts represents the Statutory Authorities Service Commission and, like Delzin, was given until January 30 to make submissions on the issue of the exceeded time limits.
The attorneys were also given a January 15 deadline to respond to any issues raised by the statements of psychiatrists in the matter.
The former employee was not served and was unrepresented at court yesterday.
Also present at court was Sister Arlene Greenidge of the children’s home, who informed the court that the home is currently undergoing an archiving process and may be able to provide the register for the period the men were present.
Attorneys Christlyn Moore, Joshua Hamlet, Adanna Joseph-Wallace and Dominique Assim are representing the men. They were given until February 10 to respond to any new matter raised by the attorneys.
The matter was adjourned to February 25.
The alleged incidents at the children’s home were first highlighted in a 1997 report commissioned by the State, which was kept out of the public spotlight until a 2021 report touching on the same issue was fully released. The first report was conducted by former policy advisor and diplomat Robert Sabga, while the second was done by former Appeal Court Judge Judith Jones.
A police investigation into the allegations raised in the reports is still ongoing.
