At a recent cabinet meeting with all members present. The meeting held on March 3rd 2021 chaired by His Excellency Governor John J. Rankin decided that cabinet would grant exceptional approval to waive the tender process to allow the Government of the Virgin Islands to re-engage Mr. John Black, QC for additional legal services rendered to conduct the Appeal, Kenyatta Boynes v The Queen.
Cabinet also approved the payment in the sum of fifteen thousand dollars ($US15,000/GBP£10,989.67), which is in addition to the $96,900.00 approved by Cabinet in 2020 for legal services in relation to the Operation Lucan trial that resulted in the petty contract threshold of $100,000 being exceeded.
Boynes was sentenced to imprisonment for life with a minimum period for parole eligibility of 30 years, following a High Court trial, who found him guilty on two counts on the indictment, of having committed the murder of Paul Prentice and the attempted murder of Cadeem Thomas on the December 14th 2014.
Meanwhile, Boynes has filed an appeal, hence the Cabinet of the Virgin Islands has granted exceptional approval to waive the tender process to allow Government to engage Mr. John Black, QC for legal services rendered to conduct the appeal.