The Court of Appeal case of a former United Bermuda Party senator got underway yesterday.

Llewellyn Peniston was convicted in October last year of three counts of perjury and one count of concealing property after he was put into receivership in 1994. At the time of the trial, Peniston was represented by Julian Hall.

Peniston is now represented by Mr. Richard Hector who spent the afternoon putting his submissions to the Court of Appeal which is comprised of Mr.

Justice Alan Huggins, Sir James Astwood and Mr. Justice Edward Zacca.

It was alleged at trial that Peniston had lied about what he had done with $24,978.46 he obtained from cashing in two pension policies and with $475 he obtained from the sale of jewellery to Astwood Dickinson.

Mr. Hector proceeded with five grounds of appeal.

The first ground concerned the admissibility of the record of the judge's notes taken at the public examination of Peniston during his bankruptcy hearing. The record was necessary to show a false statement was made during judicial proceedings.

Peniston should have been given the opportunity to read over the record and been asked to sign it, but this did not occur.

In the circumstances, the only way to properly admit the judge's notes was to call the judge, Puisne Judge Norma Wade-Miller, to give evidence about those proceedings. But at the trial it was considered unseemly to do this.

Mr. Hector contended that the trial judge, Puisne Judge Vincent Meerabux, erred in admitting this evidence during the perjury trial.

The question then arose as to whether there was any other evidence of a false statement. Mr. Hector argued that Mr. Mark Diel, the Official Receiver who gave evidence at the trial, had used the record to refresh his memory and therefore his evidence was tainted by the improperly admitted record.

The evidence of employees of Astwood Dickinson alone was not sufficient to show that false statements had been made, Mr. Hector maintained.

The remaining four grounds of appeal dealt with the admissibility of the deposition of Mrs. Oreeta Peniston, Peniston's ex-wife, given at a preliminary inquiry.

Mrs. Peniston had given evidence at the perjury trial, but could not be recalled by the Crown as she became too ill. The issue was whether in these circumstances the deposition should have been allowed, with Mr. Hector arguing it should not have been.

Throughout yesterday's hearing, the Court of Appeal remarked that the record of the perjury trial was unclear and inadequate.

The tribunal noted that Mr. Hector had been vocal in trying to get shorthand writers installed in courts in Bermuda and agreed that particularly in a complex case this was absolutely necessary.

The appeal continues today.

Retrun to court: Former UBP Senator Llewelyn Peniston arrives at court yesterday