Outspoken defence attorney Grant Connell has once again raised alarms over the state of the judicial system in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, formally writing to Attorney General Louise Mitchell to address the “infinite delays” in issuing and serving essential court documents.
Coming just one week after he called out mental health authorities for failing to provide the Court with necessary psychiatric reports, Connell is now targeting the severe backlog at the Magistrate Courts. According to the attorney, crucial legal documents, including warrants, summonses, and civil claim forms, are sometimes left unserved for more than six months.
To demonstrate that these delays are largely avoidable, Connell recently took matters into his own hands. His chambers hired Rodwell ‘Smoker’ Alexander, a retired High Court bailiff, to locate and serve Magistrate’s Court documents on an individual named George Bailey. Even though Alexander is not a registered Magistrate’s Court bailiff, he successfully found Bailey within 48 hours of receiving the paperwork.
Despite this swift alternative action, Connell reports that the official Magistrate’s Court bailiffs have still not served the documents on Bailey, leaving the case stalled before the court.
“What is causing it, I don’t know. Is it lack of resources, or are bailiffs overworked?” Connell questioned, noting that this is just one of many cases suffering from significant delays.
He emphasized the severe financial and emotional toll these backlogs take on the public, particularly in civil disputes. “Whatever it is, justice delayed is justice denied,” Connell explained. “You can’t afford to wait in excess of six months to have a recovery of possession case heard. That means that the persons you are trying to get out of a property may remain there indefinitely, until the Court makes an order”.
In his letter to Attorney General Mitchell, Connell proposed a legislative solution to circumvent the backlog: applying Section 20 of the Magistrate’s Act. This provision allows the Governor General to appoint other salaried individuals, such as police officers or rural constables, to execute civil and criminal processes.
Connell believes drastic measures are required to fix a system that is fundamentally failing Vincentians. “Clearly, there is an issue with the Bailiffs in the Magistrate’s Courts that needs to be addressed,” he stated. “It’s either they are understaffed, underemployed or there is an issue which nobody wants to address, and the public is suffering because of this”