OFTEN JUSTICE PAMELA BECKLES will spy a former prisoner making his way towards her in The City.
Never in her 15 years on the magistrate’s bench has she had cause to fear moving around.
In fact, the former convicts are approaching to greet her.
“My family, when they come in, they are amazed that when you are walking through Bridgetown these people come up. They assume that I know the people from the gym or church or something. I tell them no, no; I sent them to prison. They can’t believe it,” she said.
It is the type of respectful Barbados that the new judge wants to remain.
“I am firm but fair so that is why I walk the road freely. I don’t look over my shoulder. I’ve never [disadvantaged] anyone so I don’t think anybody is going to do me anything. I’m not going to say that everybody was happy with my decision, don’t get me wrong, but the nature of the job is such that somebody is going to be unhappy at the end,” the new judge told the SUNDAY SUN in an exclusive interview.
When observers remarked that she did a bit too much talking, Justice Beckles said it was necessary to explain to the accused why they were being imprisoned or otherwise punished.
Over the years she has developed her brand of justice delivery to ensure that from her intimidating perch, the accused or convicts left the courtroom not feeling hard done by.
Claims of being aloof won’t apply to her since she cherishes interacting with accused and others though shying away from the spotlight.
In that regard she is like her father, the late Tennyson Beckles, an economist and Democratic Labour Party (DLP) stalwart who worked behind the scenes.
Justice Beckles and sisters Beverley and Fiona were born in England to Tennyson and Eslyn Brome-Beckles. She has a brother on her father’s side, Anderson Sandiford.
A St James resident all her life, the judge attended Alexandra School in 1976 while in the care of her paternal grandmother Maude Williams and aunt Anetha Beckles.
She attended the Barbados Community College with the intention of becoming a teacher but one law course changed her mind.
Her studies completed, she did her internship with Dr Trevor Carmichael and became a crown counsel in the Attorney General’s chambers in 1988. By 1992 she was deputy registrar. Then in 1997 she became a magistrate.
“Most persons in the Magistrates’ Courts are unrepresented and you are going to have to interact with them because you are going to have to help them with certain things they don’t understand.
“By the time you get to the High Court most persons are represented by counsel so the lawyer tends to do more of the talking,” she said of the criticisms that judges are aloof.
Last week she dealt with at least 15 bail applications daily, hardly a mammoth task following the blistering pace she had set in the Magistrates’ Court.
“The majority of the applicants were unrepresented so I was able to continue in my same vein of interaction. Sometimes the new prosecutor would say they [accused] were not known and I would say I dealt with you and they would say, ‘Yes, ma’am, you dealt with me’,” she recounted.
Justice Beckles never had any desire to join the private sector and decided to work her way as high as she could.
“I expected that one day this would have come, not to me but this should have been happening as far back as [former chief magistrate] Clyde Nicholls. I thought it would have gone his way but it wasn’t to be. Thank God, since then, somebody recognised the work of the magistrates. We are not saying that others in the service don’t work just as hard, but over the years you must admit it had looked as though the magistrates were being overlooked.
“A lot of people felt it was a long time in coming but I always believed that what is to be will be, and that everywhere I was placed is where I needed to be.”
One of those people was her father, to whom she was very close; so close that months after his death she was unable to mention his name without tearing up.
“All the others were overseas and it was just my dad and me. We were very, very close. He wanted this for me more than I wanted it for myself. He would have been so proud. I’m so sorry that he is not here but I keep him in my mind . . . He made it a point to tell us that he could always walk the road and hold his head high and didn’t have to hear anybody tell him anything about his children,” she recalled.
When Prime Minister Freundel Stuart called to say he was considering her for the post, she immediately called her mother in England, who had said all along she would get it.
But hard work lies ahead, and the new judge is aware of the criticism levelled at the bench, in particular that coming from the Caribbean Court of Justice, on delays.
“If I have to make a decision I make the decision in a timely fashion because I believe the moment you begin talking about reserving a decision, then you’re giving yourself more work. So if it is a pretty straightforward matter and you can make the decision on the spot, or with a short adjournment, then I feel you should go that route.
“. . . There are some matters that are going to be more complex and you are going to need to do research and then give judgements,” she said.
Three months is her deadline for completing matters.
She intends to apply an approach similar to the one she used in the lower courts and remains grateful to prosecutors, defence counsel and legal clerks.
“I don’t want anyone to feel the magistrate did it alone. We worked as a team and they were prepared to work as late as I wanted to, take me in all my moods and they all worked with me to get the job accomplished. It wasn’t any one-man show.”
Meantime, she still plans to engage in her pastimes of reading books, line-dancing, ballroom dancing, the gym and some brisk walking or tennis while watching other sports.
The justice is a member of the Caribbean Association of Judicial Officers and the Commonwealth Magistrates and Judges Association.
