How are we going to get the court system to work? That was the question posed by Magistrate Douglas Frederick yesterday, as he dealt with the bane of the Magistrates’ Court system – the absence or unavailability of files for court cases.
Referring to a number of matters from 2013 which did not have files, he said the accused had been given long adjourned dates, some from in January, to give the prosecution time to find the documents.
But the constant adjournments over the course of five years meant the accused men, and in some cases complainants, were unable to get on with their lives, the magistrate told the prosecution team yesterday.
“How are we going to make this system work?” he asked. “We got people coming to court all the time on these charges for years. That is a punishment in itself. That is worse than going to jail.
“Supposed you had to come to court every month on an allegation? When you sit down there, you can’t leave, because if you leave and your name gets called and you’re not there, the fellows are going to say ‘warrant, Sir’ and ‘call for his surety’.
“Am I putting it too blunt? But that’s the reality. Put yourself in his shoes. That is called empathy,” he told the prosecution team.
Magistrate Frederick, however, admitted the issue of files was nothing new.
“I believe when Magistrate [Clyde] Nicholls [retired Chief Magistrate] was here, he was talking about files. I believe when Magistrate [Lennox] Perry was here [in the 1960s], he was talking about files,” he said.
However, prosecutor Sergeant Rudy Pilgrim said there were other challenges faced by the prosecution and the court needed to be cognisant about the rights of the complainants as well.
“I know that judicial time is precious . . . ,” Pilgrim said, to which the magistrate replied: “Don’t worry about me. The accused got a charge pending over him. He can’t get a job or he got to leave his job even if he is working and come down here.”
The magistrate said that if every case had a file, the prosecution might then say they would not be able to get all the cases completed.
“But, at least, I would be able to pick and choose. I would be able to say, ‘Put the new cases aside and let’s concentrate on the old ones’.” (HLE)