Remembering Justice Monica Joseph

(Editor’s Note: The following is a Press Release (carried verbatim) issued by the Bar Association of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.)

Members of the Bar of St. Vincent and the Grenadines were thrown into mourning the loss of former Justice Monica Joseph.

The sad news was received last week

Thursday that Justice Joseph had passed away in her homeland, Grenada.

Justice Monica joined the staff of the Attorney General’s Chambers in the 1970s and served as a Legal Assistant and then as a Crown Counsel. She served under the Hon. Arthur Williams who was then Attorney General in the Labour Party administration of the day.

She was subsequently promoted to Solicitor General and on the Bench, becoming the First female in the OECS to be promoted to the Bench of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (OECS). She served as a High Court Judge and a Justice of Appeal.

Apart from her legal professional services, Justice Joseph was a keen Guider with St. Vincent and the Grenadines Girl Guides Association and served as a District Commissioner in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

She had endeared herself to the Vincentian public and became popularly known as Tanty Monica or Auntie Monica.

Monica Joseph served as a Judge in most of the States of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), as well as in the OECS Court of Appeal, until 1996.

She loved Carnival and would be involved in an ole mas from time to time. She even did a bit of drama for charitable causes with members of the Bar.

Rest in peace Justice Joseph. Tanty Monica, we will remember you.

(Submitted by René M. Baptiste)