PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – The Trinidad-based Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) Wednesday allowed the appeal of Barbadian Roxann Rachel Goddard after she previously applied for but was denied a protection order by a lower court.
The Magistrate Court had held that she did not fall within the category of persons entitled to apply under the Domestic Violence (Protection Orders) Act.
Goddard first applied for a protection order for herself and her minor son against her former partner, Abdul Aziz Akojee.
The CCJ, the country’s highest Court, heard that Goddard and Akojee had been in a relationship for some three years and lived together for approximately 21 months. During that time, their son was born.
Their relationship ended in 2019, after which they continued an on-and-off relationship until May 2020. After an incident at her mother’s business, Goddard applied for a protection order for her and her son at the District ‘A’ Magistrates Court in July 2020.
But during that hearing, Akojee’s attorney objected, arguing that the Court did not have jurisdiction to hear the matter since Goddard was not one of the persons qualified to apply for a protection order under section 4 of the Domestic Violence (Protection Orders) Act.
The attorney further argued that the parties were not in a cohabitation or domestic relationship; neither were they in a visiting relationship, and Goddard was not a spouse.
But Goddard’s attorney argued that while the relationship between the parties had ended, the Court did have jurisdiction to hear the matter since his client was a former spouse. Thus, she qualified for protection under section 4 of the Act.
The Magistrate, acting on the responses she elicited from Goddard, decided that the legislation did not apply to Goddard and dismissed her application for a protection order.
Goddard appealed to the Court of Appeal and, by a majority, ruling upheld the reasoning of the Magistrate and that she did not err by dismissing the matter because she had no jurisdiction.
The majority held that the Magistrate was entitled to decline jurisdiction because, based on the facts and Goddard’s responses, she did not fall within the classes of persons covered by the legislation.
In the majority view, it could not be the case that any person who once had a living relationship with an alleged perpetrator of domestic violence could apply for a protection order under the Act without having regard for the time that elapsed since that past relationship.
Goddard appealed to the CCJ, seeking clarification on the ‘former spouse’ meaning under the Act. According to her, she fell within this definition by law and thus should have been granted the necessary protection.
The CCJ allowed her appeal after hearing submissions from Goddard’s attorney, the Office of the Attorney General, and the Organization Safe Space Movement in association with the International Center for Advocates Against Discrimination (ICAAD) Inc. and UN Women Multi-Country Office – Caribbean, who was invited by the Court to assist as amici curiae (or friends of the Court).
The CCJ was unanimous in the view that the Magistrate did have jurisdiction to hear the case filed by Ms. Goddard and – agreeing with the minority decision – that she fell within the range of persons who were entitled to apply for the protection order.
The CCJ said the full reasons for its decision would be given in due course.
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