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THE Court of Appeal has given its reason on why it refused to grant the State permission to appeal to the Privy Council in the $20 million default judgment awarded to nine men who were all acquitted nine years ago of the murder of businesswoman Vindra Naipaul-Coolman.

Delivered last Friday, the written reasons clarify the court’s majority decision given on July 31 to reject the Office of the Attorney General’s request for conditional leave to appeal the ruling.

A default judgment—entered in favour of Shervon Peters, Devon Peters, and seven others by Justice Joan Charles in January 2023 — arose from a civil lawsuit in which the men accused the State of maliciously prosecuting them for Naipaul-Coolman’s murder.