IS HERBERT VOLNEY A RACIST OR JUST UNETHICAL?

Let us take a trip back to 1996 in Trinidad. There was a murder case against 18-year-old white male named Brad Boyce. Boyce was accused of killing  a black boy, Jason Johnson, outside a popular nightclub. This club was labeled by the local press as a white only club. Herbert Volney was the judge on said case. He was responsible for the freeing of this young, white man accused of murder. This generated a storm of public protest. The question arose on whether all Trinidadians and Tobagonians were treated equally by the law.

At the time of this report, whites in Trinidad accounted for less than one percent of the population but were the wealthiest group on the island. This decision by Volney was seen as discriminatory and outright racist, First the matter was expedited and then the charge was quickly dropped to manslaughter and he was allowed bail

Volney actually was seen as being unfair to the pathologist on the case. This doctor subsequently said that Volney had tarnished his reputation. What was also questionable in this case was that Volney had taken rare privilege of calling his own witness. Vol­ney in 1998 di­rect­ed a nine-mem­ber ju­ry to re­turn a not guilty ver­dict in the case against Boyce, Volney later said that did what his conscience told him was right. Brad Boyce walked and left Trinidad and never returned. There was outcry at what happened in this case and brought into question whether Volney was himself a racist. It was felt he did this to please the white 1% who had the wealth.

It took Volney 15 years, in 2013 to admit in Parliament that he had made an er­ror in the Brad Boyce case. But as a weak spined being he didn’t stop there he added: “There was the Court of Ap­peal to cor­rect me. They too made an er­ror”. He could not just apologize and say sorry that he had made a mistake. He ensures he also blamed others.

Herbert Volney has always seen himself as an elitist who looks down on those darker than him, He actually has an inflated sense of self. He thinks he is more important than he actually is. The fact that he was a judge made him feel he was “all that”. During our interview, we were told that he uses to shout at black lawyers in the court room all the time and belittled them. It is also said when he went into politics the judiciary family celebrated because they had finally gotten rid of him. What is also interesting which questions his ethics is as a judge one has to be   independent and impartial but the same day, he left the judiciary he was announced as a political candidate. This raised the question of how he could have been independent to begin with.

When he first got into politics some people dressed up as the KKK and when Volney began to speak they came in their full KK outfit and cross. They were there to make their point.

At time of this piece, we are told that “Volney is a nobody in Trinidad anymore “He cannot practice law in Trinidad for at least 10 years as of 2015. So, he has another 5 years to go. In The next 5 years he will be a grouchy old man. He walks around in disgrace with no security. He flips flops now on his political affiliations because he is indeed a lost soul trying to get back in. He was seen at warehouse store recently buying plumbing material looking rather disheveled

Sadly, he is now a nobody and the Trinidadians wish he would return to Dominica. Since he resigned, he forfeited his big retirement and is now in dire straits. Now, he is looking at Dominica to save him. This is a man who never looked back on Dominica and always viewed himself as a wealthy Trinidadian. In his inflated sense of self, he is begging Roosevelt Skerrit the Prime Minister of Dominica so he can be somebody again. Thus, he was on a political platform in Dominica making a fool of himself. He thought he could get away with his past as he was referred to as former Judge and Minister of Trinidad and Tobago. Before the ink could dry, Herbert was exposed for what he truly is. Even Roosevelt Skerrit is fed up with him and realized he is a liability.  He has quickly become a nobody in Dominica and will not be gracing the DLP stage anytime soon. We were told “Skerrit cannot afford to have that Lunatic anywhere close”

It seems he should now just focus on doing his construction work and go quietly into that good night. As our parents always said, honesty is the best policy. Volney wanted so much to fit in with the white 1% in Trinidad that he compromised himself.  The 1% has rejected him and the black people don’t like him for what he did in the Brad Boyce case. Poor Volney has nowhere to turn.

These days you can also find him buying building material for his boss or on social media making a fool of himself.