Acting DPP’s appeal for two assizes bears fruit

A letter written to the Chief Justice Brian Alleyne by Acting Director of Public Prosecutions Colin Williams requesting that the criminal assizes be held simultaneously in two courts, has bourne fruit.{{more}}

On Monday June 11, the criminal assizes was held in two courts presided by two judges for the first time in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

On Tuesday, the DPP told SEARCHLIGHT that when he saw the list for the assizes he knew that something had to be done to deal with the mountain of cases. He said that he had informal conversations with the Justice Bruce Lyle and Justice Gertel Thom concerning the build up of cases before the letter was written to the Chief Justice. “This is a landmark for St Vincent and the Grenadines and it would work out for the best interest of justice.”

Williams said that the sitting of the two assizes has mass financial challenges. He said that since there are now two courts, extra jurors have to be called, plus funds for a special prosecutor and other expenses have to be found. Williams said the Minister of Finance, Dr Ralph Gonsalves, awarded the monies for these expenses. “It takes a lot of manpower to go forward with this,” said Williams.

In an earlier interview, Williams had noted that there are two main elements contributing to the 119 cases laid before the court in the June criminal assizes.

He said that due to the timeline in which Preliminary Cases are to be completed at the Serious Offences Court, more matters are sent on to the assizes for hearing. Williams said that when he came into practice in the 90’s, there wasn’t any specific time frame in which a Preliminary Inquiry had to be completed. He said that there is a three-month span where a Preliminary Inquiry should be completed if a defendant is in custody or six months if the person is not.

The other reason is that there are only three assizes a year at specified times and there is no continuity. He said that only a certain number of cases get to be heard in the assizes thus gearing the system towards a backlog.

In the past, Williams mentioned that every person charged with an offence was not indicted immediately. He said that a DPP would only select the number of matters he wanted to complete at the assizes. Now, once and indictment is made, all the matters are brought onto the list. Williams said there are matters on the assizes list dating back to 2002. The DPP said his prosecution team up to the challenge ahead and would find creative means of tackling the matters.