Beautiful Virgin Islands

Thursday, Oct 30, 2025

If we can carry news to COI, we can sit on a jury - Premier

If we can carry news to COI, we can sit on a jury - Premier

Premier Andrew Fahie is disputing the notion that the BVI’s jury pool may be too small because of the territory’s tiny size and tight-knit community.

One of the concerns previously raised is about the BVI’s existing policy that only Belongers living in the territory for 10 years or more are eligible to become jurors.

And although two leading authorities in the local criminal-justice system – the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and the Commissioner of Police – recently told the Commission of Inquiry they share this concern, the notion seems to bear no weight for the Premier.

Speaking in the House of Assembly (HOA) recently, Premier Fahie said: “If we’re good enough to carry news to have a COI — and make sure that we carry information other than news or whatever we carry to have it — we’re supposed to be good enough to sit in the courthouse in the jury box and still determine if people are guilty or innocent.”

“We cannot have our people having that kind of fortitude (of making complaints to the COI) and then telling me if it comes to certain cases, that because of our close-knit [nature] in the BVI, that we cannot have jurors from the BVI to be jurors on the case,” the Premier said.

Ethnic makeup of COI imbalanced


And while referring to the laws that govern a COI in the BVI, the Premier said any selection of persons appointed to conduct a COI should allow for ‘balance’. He said this selection of persons should comprise of people with different ethnic backgrounds and be more culturally aware of persons inside and outside of the territory.

Currently, the team of persons conducting the ongoing COI are all or mostly Britons.

“If our people are good enough to bring information to any sitting person that can do an inquiry … then our people are saying that we are good enough to help police ourselves,” the Premier argued.

The territory’s leader said this is preferred over having a few persons who may not be viewing matters through a particular ethnic lens, and are bringing guilty verdicts every time.

Someone’s cultural view of an issue, Premier Fahie posited, can easily allow them to make decisions that can negatively affect others because of their connotation of how the other person’s culture operates.

COI Act needs update


Meanwhile, Premier Fahie further noted that some aspects of the law surrounding the COI need to be questioned while other elements need to be made more current.

“We don’t like to touch certain things that create certain waves in certain quarters, but we have to make sure that any law that is used now, passes the litmus test of being democratic in the 21st century,” the Premier argued.

The Premier further suggested that a crucial element of good governance also involves a balanced, modern-day partnership where either party in the relationship is able to examine the other – i.e. if the government has concerns about the governor, the a COI should be able to look into this as well.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
UK and Vietnam Sign Landmark Migration Deal to Fast-Track Returns of Irregular Arrivals
UK Drug-Pricing Overhaul Essential for Life-Sciences Ambition, Says GSK Chief
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie Temporarily Leave the UK Amid Their Parents’ Royal Fallout
UK Weighs Early End to Oil and Gas Windfall Tax as Reeves Seeks Investment Commitments
UK Retail Inflation Slows as Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since Spring
Next Raises Full-Year Profit Guidance After Strong Third-Quarter Performance
Reform UK’s Lee Anderson Admits to 'Gaming' Benefits System While Advocating Crackdown
United States and South Korea Conclude Major Trade Accord Worth $350 Billion
Hurricane Melissa Strikes Cuba After Devastating Jamaica With Record Winds
Vice President Vance to Headline Turning Point USA Campus Event at Ole Miss
U.S. Targets Maritime Narco-Routes While Border Pressure to Mexico Remains Limited
Bill Gates at 70: “I Have a Real Fear of Artificial Intelligence – and Also Regret”
Elon Musk Unveils Grokipedia: An AI-Driven Alternative to Wikipedia
Saudi Arabia Unveils Vision for First-Ever "Sky Stadium" Suspended Over Desert Floor
Amazon Announces 14 000 Corporate Job Cuts as AI Investment Accelerates
UK Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since March, Food Leads the Decline
London Stock Exchange Group ADR (LNSTY) Earns Zacks Rank #1 Upgrade on Rising Earnings Outlook
Soap legend Tony Adams, long-time star of Crossroads, dies at 84
Rachel Reeves Signals Tax Increases Ahead of November Budget Amid £20-50 Billion Fiscal Gap
NatWest Past Gains of 314% Spotlight Opportunity — But Some Key Risks Remain
UK Launches ‘Golden Age’ of Nuclear with £38 Billion Sizewell C Approval
UK Announces £1.08 Billion Budget for Offshore Wind Auction to Boost 2030 Capacity
UK Seeks Steel Alliance with EU and US to Counter China’s Over-Capacity
UK Struggles to Balance China as Both Strategic Threat and Valued Trading Partner
Argentina’s Markets Surge as Milei’s Party Secures Major Win
British Journalist Sami Hamdi Detained by U.S. Authorities After Visa Revocation Amid Israel-Gaza Commentary
King Charles Unveils UK’s First LGBT+ Armed Forces Memorial at National Memorial Arboretum
At ninety-two and re-elected: Paul Biya secures eighth term in Cameroon amid unrest
Racist Incidents Against UK Nurses Surge by 55%
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves Cites Shared Concerns With Trump Administration as Foundation for Early US-UK Trade Deal
Essentra plc: A Closer Look at a UK ‘Penny Stock’ Opportunity Amid Market Weakness
U.S. and China Near Deal to Avert Rare-Earth Export Controls Ahead of Trump-Xi Summit
Justin time: Justin Herbert Shields Madison Beer with Impressive Reflex at Lakers Game
Russia’s President Putin Declares Burevestnik Nuclear Cruise Missile Ready for Deployment
Giuffre’s Memoir Alleges Maxwell Claimed Sexual Act with Clooney
House Republicans Move to Strip NYC Mayoral Front-Runner Zohran Mamdani of U.S. Citizenship
Record-High Spoiled Ballots Signal Voter Discontent in Ireland’s 2025 Presidential Election
Philippines’ Taal Volcano Erupts Overnight with 2.4 km Ash Plume
Albania’s Virtual AI 'Minister' Diella Set to 'Birth' Eighty-Three Digital Assistants for MPs
Tesla Unveils Vision for Optimus V3 as ‘Biggest Product of All Time’, Including Surgical Capabilities
Francis Ford Coppola Auctions Luxury Watches After Self-Financed Film Flop
Convicted Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed by UK Prison Service Arrested in London
United States and China Begin Constructive Trade Negotiations Ahead of Trump–Xi Summit
U.S. Treasury Sanctions Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro over Drug-Trafficking Allegations
Miss USA Crowns Nebraska’s Audrey Eckert Amid Leadership Overhaul
‘I Am Not Done’: Kamala Harris Signals Possible 2028 White House Run
NBA Faces Integrity Crisis After Mass Arrests in Gambling Scandal
Swift Heist at the Louvre Sees Eight French Crown Jewels Stolen in Under Seven Minutes
U.S. Halts Trade Talks with Canada After Ontario Ad Using Reagan Voice Triggers Diplomatic Fallout
Microsoft AI CEO: ‘We’re making an AI that you can trust your kids to use’ — but can Microsoft rebuild its own trust before fixing the industry’s?
×