The Privy Council is the final court of appeal for most CARICOM countries like The Bahamas.
According to Minister Maynard-Gibson, the sitting will take place in December.
“I am advised that this will be an historic occasion for the Privy Council and for The Bahamas as the Law Lords of the Privy Council have never sat as a full Privy Council outside of the United Kingdom,” she said, while contributing to debate on the 2006/2007 budget in the House of Assembly.
The upcoming fiscal year is also expected to expand on the Attorney Generalﾒs swift justice initiative.
The programme seeks to not only prosecute the matters that have been in the system for an inordinate length of time, but to review the systems that are currently in place for bringing matters for trials before the courts.
According to the minister, part of that process means appointing lay Magistrates to reduce the backlog of minor traffic cases like speeding, running red lights and parking offenses.
Minister Maynard-Gibson has assured that if persons choose trial rather than payment of a fine, the trial will begin within weeks.
“Magistrates will be asked to fully implement the law in terms of suspension of licenses pending payment of fines and increase of penalty in the event that a person who pleads not guilty is at the end of the trial found guilty of the offense,” she said.
“There will also be a computer link to the Road Traffic so that persons who have not paid their fines will not be able to obtain a drivers license while payment remains outstanding.”
Minister Maynard-Gibson also announced that community courts will be established in the east/north-eastern and south/southern districts of New Providence. She told House Members that community elders such as Justices of the Peace will be invited to serve.
Such courts will deal with matters such as graffiti and other similar offenses.
The attorney general also said that the practice of “playing the system” must be and will be stopped.
Appeals, she said, will be pursued in a timely fashion.
The minister again explained that rather than a matter taking six years ﾖ in the extreme case ﾖ to proceed from charging to trial in the Supreme Court, all matters will move rapidly to trial.
“ﾅI have met many people who are deeply concerned about how long mattes are taking to be tried. Their lives and their familiesﾒ lives have been forever changed by the crime. Many of them feel that the system does not adequately protect the rights of victims of crime. We must never forget that every time that a matter is set down and does not proceed, innocent people, families experience again the deep pain of that crime,” she said.
“They are frustrated by trials being adjourned because witnesses donﾒt turn up or the accused does not have a lawyer or the accused is not in court.”
As it regards capital punishment, Minister Maynard-Gibson said the government will make every effort to ensure that timelines and appeals are honoured.
By: Macushla N. Pinder, The Bahama Journal
