Top court stays trial

THE Supreme Court yesterday stayed the trial in the election petition of Pastor Bernard Kaku against William Powi and the Electoral Commission until a determination of the Electoral Commission’s slip rule application.
Justice Ere Kariko, when delivering a ruling on behalf of a three-man bench comprising himself, Chief Justice Sir Gibbs Salika and Justice Collin Makail, ordered that the matter be adjourned to the registry to be listed at the next directions hearing, for the pending slip rule application to be expedited to hearing. “To do justice in the circumstances of this case, we consider that the trial of the election petition be stayed,” he said. “There is no dispute that this court has power pursuant to section 155 (4) of the constitution and its inherent jurisdiction to grant a stay application and this power is discretionary. “In deciding whether or not grant a stay, the court will ultimately consider what is necessary to do justice in the circumstances of the case,” he said. The court noted that the decision of the National Court on the election petition would precede the determination of the slip rule application.