Lawyer Jomo Thomas says the Kingstown Magistrates Court has been closed for the last three weeks while the Family Court has been closed for probably longer.
On Tuesday speaking on Boom FM, Thomas said the reason why the Kingstown Magistrates Court is closed is that Senior Magistrate Rickie Burnett is on vacation and the Family Court is closed because the President of the Court, Coleen Mc Donald, is also on vacation.
“The Government finds no reason, It finds no good reason to either hire a temporary magistrate or to rotate the other magistrates who happen to be Magistrate Bertie Pompey and Magistrate Zoila Ellis-Browne so that we would not have the serious backlog which we are having now in these courts”, Thomas said.
“Sometimes it won’t affect us, so we don’t know what a serious situation this would be. But imagine a situation where someone is before the court was given bail, is unable to make bail, so he or she goes to prison and there’s a real chance that had he or she been convicted, they might have gotten a month in jail or two months in jail. But when the court is not meeting or that case is sent to September or October, it means that a lot of poor people in St Vincent and the Grenadines, particularly men, would end up spending two or three months in jail for an offence”, Thomas stated.
Thomas said had they pled guilty or tried and convicted, they would probably get a month or may even be reprimanded on the matter.
“So that is a real problem that has to do with the judiciary and the way in which this government approaches issues having to do with justice”, Thomas said.
There is a possibility that the court will remain closed until October, according to Thomas.
