BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – INTERRUPTIONS continue to have considerable impacts on the criminal assizes held in St. Kitts, with the most recent result being the disposal of less than 25 percent of cases listed for trial during the January 2010 Criminal Assizes.
That assizes came to an official close yesterday morning (Mar. 30) and, according to information released by resident judge, His Lordship Justice Francis Belle, 15 of the 56 cases that were listed for trial were disposed of.
Justice Belle explained that 10 of the 15 disposed cases went before a jury while the others were either nolle prosequied (discontinued/did not prosecute) or guilty pleas entered.
The Assizes commenced on January 19 with accused persons being arraigned and trial dates assigned to the different cases.
While it was hoped that all cases listed for trial would have been disposed of, the court broke on occasions to allow for scheduled and unscheduled situations that arose, including a one-week local sitting of the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal.
His Lordship noted that in the past, more cases were disposed of but on this occasion the breaks were a significant contributor to the low rate of case-disposal. He said the availability of one judge in St. Kitts to try all matters – both civil and criminal – is another contributing factor.
Additional strain is likely to be placed on the judicial system come May, Belle explained, when it is expected to dispose of the 56 cases traversed from the January 2010 Assizes and those “new” cases which would be added to the docket.
Belle said he would welcome any suggestions pertaining to measures that the court could implement to improve the flow of the assizes.
Notwithstanding, His Lordship named the concluded assizes “a fairly successful session” in terms of the jury’s execution of its responsibilities. He thanked the 40-plus jurors profusely for the attention they paid while sitting on cases, noting that they were “pretty decisive” as none of the cases resulted in hung jury.
Officers of the court, including police officers, the Director of Public Prosecution and her staff and defence counsel, were also thanked for their contribution to the success of the session and encouraged to continue their support of the administration of justice, particularly criminal justice.
