<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The views expressed are not those of ANN but of the Contributor .<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The shutdown of the Kingstown Magistrate\u2019s court for more than two months and counting should be disturbing to every right-thinking Vincentian. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This court is the busiest court of the twelve courts in magistrate\u2019s jurisdiction. On average, it adjudicates just about 98 matters combined civil (42) and criminal (56) per week.\u00a0 It is the small claims court where the poorest of the poor seek justice for debt repayment, recovery of rent, compensation for personal injury and the like. It hears traffic matters; and it acquits, or convicts hundreds accused of assault, theft, threatening language and wounding – the summary offences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Victims seeking their justice and accused anxiously waiting to put their defence to the sole magistrate in the hopes of walking free ought to meet Mondays \u2013 Fridays between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. for their day in court. The State is denying them their justice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Access to\njustice is a human right and a basic principle of rule of law. According to the United States Institute of\nPeace justice it is a necessary condition, which is more than improving an\nindividual\u2019s access to courts or guaranteeing legal representation. It supports\nsustainable peace, but justice systems that are slow, unaffordable and physically\ninaccessible deny legal protection. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Too often we are\nsoaked in our indigestible coagulated partisan soup to honestly recognise how\nin subtle and in clear ways the State violates our human rights. Too often our\nmirror images fail to reflect the stark reality that we simply do not care. And,\nway too often the affected and afflicted are crippled stiff from protecting\ntheir rights. To know your rights and not to protect them is worse than not to\nknow them at all. How many do not know\nthat access to justice is a fundamental entitlement?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A few years ago\nthe President of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) Honourable Mr. Justice\nAdrian Saunders remarked \u201cOur justice system is broken\u201d. At the time the\nPresident was addressing the inaugural meeting of the Advisory Committee on\nCriminal Justice and Magisterial Reform under the Judicial Reform and\nInstitutional Strengthening (JURIST) project. The Honourable Justice\u2019s focus at the time was\nthe inordinate unconstitutional delays in bringing matters to trial. Til\u2019 now change is either in slow motion or we\nare in reverse. It seems no matter the amount of talk and regardless from whose\nlips it comes our leaders fail to do right by us. Small wonder that low public confidence in\nthe justice system persists. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Without a doubt\nthe brokenness is directly related to lack of political will, but some would\nargue lack of resources. Perhaps there\nis merit in saying both but if our leaders really want to give life to the\nsaying \u201cwhere there is a will there is a way\u201d then they would fix it! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Interestingly,\nwhile poor creditors cannot have their debts repaid and many have their freedom\nheld in limbo, the State has been collecting fines from the Traffic court. Yes,\nabove other matters traffic matters are being heard at the Serious Offences\nCourt. 77 are set down for 27\/03\/19, just about 21 less than criminal and civil\ncombined weekly average. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Must we pinch\nourselves to be reminded that an accused is innocent until proven guilty; that summary\noffences are bailable but not all accused can afford bail. So, imagine being\nheld on remand for an offence and that had it been heard, and you were found\nguilty, the actual sentence could be shorter than your remand. Or worse imagine\nthat the sentence is a fine and not custody. \n Who wants to hear time served\nwhen one could have equally paid a fine and have freedom? Imagine that! Is it that we only want justice when we are personally\nlooking for it? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Denying the\npeople justice cannot be justified with talk of lack of budget allocation.\nThere are just some things that we cannot put a price on. And, we MUST reject\nany irresponsible excuse that lack of financial resources prevents us from\nhiring a replacement magistrate for the period that the senior magistrate Honourable\nRickie Burnette is acting as a Master in the High Court Civil Division. Under the Magistrate\u2019s Act, a magistrate is\nappointed by the Governor General acting in accordance with the advice of the\nJudicial and Legal Services Commission. Their salaries are paid from the public\npurse. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Governor\nGeneral has the power to appoint a magistrate for special purposes including to\nappoint any magistrate to act as magistrate for any district if a magistrate is\nunable to perform duties or on vacation. \nAre the hands of the Governor General tied? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
What is the role\nof the government in ensuring that our democratic institutions work? What is\nthe role of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines\u2019 Bar Association and the Human\nRights Association in holding accountable the power handlers who created this\nhuman rights mess? What is the role of\nthe Attorney General and the Minister of Justice? Why are we sleeping while\nthere is an unjustifiable assault on our justice system?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Matters that\nwere set down to be heard in January were given March dates. Now these March\ndates have been rescheduled to April. And according to a senior counsel, she\nhas been given June dates for her client\u2019s matter that was set down for March.\nThe wider impact is that new matters have not been factored in. What about\nthem? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Undue delay is\nthe incurable plague, it seems. Not more than 5 years ago the horrific\nunconstitutional backlog of High Court matters was eventually addressed when the\npower handlers added a second judge to civil division and the criminal division\nsaw a second judge too. Thankfully, we\nstill have two resident judges in the civil division. We are not so blessed in\nthe criminal division. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Justice is\njustice. Its value ought not to be weighed by the category of court matters or\nclass of people seeking it. Be reminded\nthat most justice seekers at the magistrate\u2019s court are unrepresented, and that\nthe State does not provide legal aid except for murder. And so, for the poor without legal\nrepresentation the shutdown of the magistrate\u2019s court is nothing less than aggravated\nassault on their rights. Does anyone\nreally care? Does the collection of traffic fines outweigh the losses of the\npoor seeking vindication otherwise? Does\nthe shutdown of the Kingstown Magistrate\u2019s court benefit anyone at all?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Shirlan \u201cZita\u201d BarnwellLawyer & Human Rights Advocate <\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The views expressed are not those of ANN but of the Contributor . The shutdown of the Kingstown Magistrate\u2019s court for more than two months and counting should be disturbing to every right-thinking Vincentian. \u00a0 This court is the busiest court of the twelve courts in magistrate\u2019s jurisdiction. On average, it adjudicates just about 98<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":3288,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-opinion"],"yoast_head":"\n