Speaking as a guest on the Radio Love 97 programme “Jones and Company”, which aired Sunday, Sir Burton also revealed that Supreme Court judges assigned to criminal cases in 2003 lost about 90 workdays as a result of substantial delays in such matters.
He objected to a charge that has generally been made by some people that the courts are to blame for the large numbers of suspects granted bail.
For quite some time, government officials and law enforcement authorities have been saying that the fight against crime is being hampered by judges releasing too many suspects on bail.
While saying that a review of the Bail Act may be needed, Police Commissioner Paul Farquharson has said that a serious concern rested with the delays in the judicial system which often grants suspects go-free tickets.
In at least one case that has been highlighted, a suspect released on bail after being charged with two murders was himself murdered in 2002.
Law enforcement authorities also said that many other suspects terrorized local communities after being released on bail.
Sir Burton reminded that judges can only hear cases that have been sent down from the Attorney General’s Office and persons who have been on remand for an inordinate amount of time are entitled to bail consideration.
“The judges can’t punish the Attorney General or do otherwise,” Sir Burton said.
In many cases, he said, “Persons had to be admitted to bail because depositions simply were not ready in order for trial to proceed.”
Sir Burton added, “Having had that burden, I’m reluctant to fix blame…the principle is that the prosecuting authorities who must themselves rely on the cooperation of police officers and witnesses are the ones who are responsible for ensuring that the court has work to do. There is another aspect which deals with the question of staffing.”
He said that civil matters were also clogging the system and that counsels shared a part of the blame because they are sometimes unprepared when their matters are called.
“In terms of business transactions [in the past]…and I’m speaking in broad terms… businessmen would seek to avoid courts,” Sir Burton said. “Now we have moved to the point where litigation has become a tool in many business transactions and a lot of the delay of which complaints are made are obviously tactics which are used in business disputes.
“So the problem that that has caused is that the little judicial time that exists is taken up with commercial matters. So the society at large and the legal profession which serves it, must take their share of the blame for delays.”
Speaking about the poor state of the courts, Sir Burton said the Bahamian public should be “horrified and embarrassed” by the conditions of New Providence courts.
“I can only ask and keep asking until the things are corrected,” Sir Burton said, while outlining the gross inefficiencies of the court system.
The need for a modern court building is “so obvious”, he said, reiterating that he will continue to plead, persuade, cajole, complain and even annoy those whose responsibility it is to provide the resources that the judiciary needs.”
Sir Burton also said nothing can be done in the present Supreme Court building to improve security.
“The present building was built at a different time in a different culture,” Sir Burton said. “Anybody who is devising a court building today would be cognizant of the need to provide adequate security to separate jurors from witnesses and members of the public. The present building simply cannot be converted to that purpose and the famous fig tree in front of the court is the place where jurors and witnesses have to mix up together.”
When asked by the show’s host, Wendall Jones, what he could do as Chief Justice to make the situation better, Sir Burton said, “I recognize that when we’re dealing with public funds, there is a competition, schools, roads, hospitals, all that sort of thing and public funds are not inexhaustible.
“So in this competition, presumably, the eventual disbursement of funds would only be as a result of from the pressures and concerns that are expressed.”
In New Providence, he said, “we’re working out of a building that was constructed in the early part of the century.οΎ”
The Bahama Journal
