The addition of a Justice of Appeal and a High Court judge, says Chief Justice Leslie Haynes, means the courts are now better equipped to take on the long-standing backlog of cases.
He was speaking to the media following the swearing-in of Justice of Appeal Victoria Charles-Clarke and Justice Bryan Lawson Weekes at State House before acting President of Barbados Dr Jeffrey Gibson.
“Justice Charles-Clark will make the sixth member of the Court of Appeal and that will make us two panels of three each and should assist greatly in the efficiency of the Court of Appeal in hearing and determining matters. Justice Charles-Clarke’s forte is that of criminal matters and is much needed in the Court of Appeal, and to this extent most of her matters will be criminal appeals.
“With respect to Justice Weekes he has led a versatile practice, and he will be of great assistance in the Family division, the Civil Division and the Commercial Division. As you are aware, the backlog in the High Court is not small and it is hoped that with the addition of Justice Weekes, we will go a long way in reducing that backlog. I think we now have a full complement of judges and it is up to the judiciary now to do their job,” the Chief Justice stated.
He revealed that there were plans to assess more than 500 cases this year to ensure they can again gain momentum through the court system.
“I do not know the size and quantity of the backlog but what I can say is that measures have been put in place to reintroduce those cases and matters that appear to have fallen through the net. We have introduced what I call status hearings whereby those files that have fallen through the cracks are reintroduced into the court via the master,” Chief Justice Haynes said.
“The case will be assessed and a determination will be made whether documents have to be filed or a pre-trial review. I then take the case from the master and assign a judge. We are dealing with six status hearings by each master and that will be 12 status hearings a week, and by the end of the year we should have well over 500 cases back into the system.”
Justice of Appeal Charles-Clarke pledged to bring to bear the skill sets and lessons learnt while serving on the bench of the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal.
“It is certainly an honour and a privilege for me to be appointed to this office of Justice of Appeal for the Supreme Court of Barbados. I consider it to be the highlight of my career thus far and I look forward to discharging my duties with the highest level of integrity, commitment, industry and to bring to bear all of the experience I have gathered over the years to this position,” she said.
Justice Weekes expressed similar sentiments, stressing that he was committed to seeing all his matters to their conclusion.
“I have quite a lot of experience in family, civil and commercial litigation, which I hope to leverage and help the Chief Justice bring down the significant backlog that exists now. It is going to take a lot of work, long hours and a robust approach to the civil litigation especially. “Without working hard, we cannot achieve the goals which the Civil Procedure Rules, which were brought in in 2009, intended. Judges under those rules have the duty to pursue the resolution between the parties that have come to court. As a judge, I intend to pursue that goal,” he said.
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