BASSETERRE, St. Kitts — ATTORNEY General Garth Wilkin will on Thursday (Jul. 24) move the second reading of the Judge Alone Trials (Amendment) Bill, 2025, a legislative measure that is increasingly being seen as a positive development in the administration of justice in the Federation.
The Bill, which had its first reading on July 10, 2025, seeks to provide defendants the option of being tried by a judge alone or with a jury.
Speaking during the Prime Minister’s press conference on yesterday (Jul. 22), Wilkin explained that the judge-alone trial option has become a valuable tool in the face of growing concerns over witness and jury tampering.
“There is a murder trial that had been going on for numerous weeks before there was an attempt to interfere with one of the jurors,” Wilkin said. “The juror brought that information to the attention of the court and the jury was dismissed.”
Despite the dismissal, the trial proceeded under the provisions of the Judge Alone Trials Act, avoiding lengthy delays.
“If the Judge Alone Trials Act had not been passed last year and brought into law, many days of judicial time and energy would have been lost as the trial would have had to be abandoned and restarted in the future,” he added.
The Attorney General emphasized that jury tampering remains a significant concern in St. Kitts and Nevis' judicial system. He noted that he would speak in greater detail during Thursday’s sitting of the National Assembly about the societal benefits of judge-alone trials and how the law has been instrumental in addressing the very issue that led to its creation.
He also acknowledged that there have been “numerous attempts” to improperly influence jurors in ongoing trials. However, he did not respond to a follow-up question regarding the government's approach to addressing such attempts.
The Judge Alone Trials (Amendment) Bill is expected to be the only item on the agenda for Thursday’s session.
