BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – A stern warning has been issued by Chief Justice of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (ECSE) His Lordship Hugh A. Rawlins that efficiency in processing appeal applications must be improved or the appropriate action would be taken.
The word of caution was issued on Monday (May 18) during the opening of the St. Kitts sitting of the Court of Appeal at the Sir Lee Llewellyn Moore Judicial and Legal Services Complex, Basseterre.
His Lordship explained that there was to have been a sitting at the Nevis Circuit Court, but owing to the scarcity of cases which were processed and ready to be heard by the Court of Appeal, it would not have been feasible to do so. His said a mere three matters, two magisterial appeals and a civil appeal appear on the docket for the current sitting. His Lordship further explained that when he inquired as to why this is the case, he was told the records were incomplete.
“Let me indicate, in this court, in the courts of the Eastern Caribbean, we will not have it that persons have appealed cases and those cases do not come on because of incompletion of records.
“I am sounding a warning to all who are involved and who are supposed to be in assisting in this matter to get on top of the work and have appeal records and all that is necessary for appeals to come to this court to be heard as a matter of urgency,” His Lordship chastised.
In keeping with the axiom ‘Justice delayed is justice denied’, His Lordship fervently expressed, “It cannot be that persons sentenced, for example, to terms of imprisonment and while they are serving those terms of imprisonment the appeal process is causing them to languish. And then at the end of the day, when, if the appeals are allowed…we are letting them out having already have them almost sometimes to the end of their term. And in some instances persons are let out and the appeals have to be withdrawn because they have served their sentences.”
Chief Justice Rawlins said unequivocally that this inefficiency is unacceptable and would not be tolerated.
“It is not good enough. I am not going to have it within this court, and we are going to take such actions as is necessary to ensure that this state of affairs does not continue.”
The Mission statement of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court is the “delivery of justice independently by competent officers in a prompt, fair, efficient and effective manner” and as the Chief Justice explained, the ECSC has a mandate to ensure that it operates by and fulfils its mission statement.
“…When the records are written, it should not be written that the court is inefficient.”
His point was driven home later during that day’s sitting when an appeal filed by Phillip Francis against the conviction and sentence he received in 2007 had to be dismissed for “want of prosecution”.
Francis was convicted of “receiving” and sentenced to serve a prison term. As was pointed out by the office of the Director of Public Prosecution, Francis completed serving his sentence as of February 2009.
