The status of PNP Councillor for the Sligoville Division, Dwight Burke, is being questioned by opposition Jamaica Labour Party councilors in the St. Catherine Parish Council.
Specifically, the JLP councillors have questioned the legality of Burke, continuing to sit in the council.
This, following his recent conviction for causing death by dangerous driving.
Councillor Burke was found guilty of the charge on May 21 in the St. Catherine Circuit Court. He was fined $500,000 dollars or two years imprisonment.
Burke’s conviction stemmed from the death of a school teacher in a road traffic accident in 2009.
At last week’s monthly general meeting of the Council, JLP Minority Leader and former mayor of Spanish Town, Owen Palmer, objected to Burke sitting in the meeting.
However, Council Chairman, Norman Scott, explained that Burke had filed an appeal against his conviction and as such was being allowed to attend council meetings in the interim.
The Parish Council Act states that any councilor sentenced in any part of the Commonwealth to death, penal servitude or imprisonment at hard labour or for a term exceeding 12 months, his seat at the Council shall become vacant.
