Rio Claro Court building too cramped for two courts...

AN appeal has gone out to Chief Justice Ivor Archie to provide a separate space to house the Princes Town Magistrate’s Court, after its building was damaged by the 6.9 earthquake on September 21.

The Princes Town Court is now being accommodated in the cramped and inadequate Rio Claro Magistrate’s Court building, on a shift basis.

The Judiciary in a release said the Rio Claro Court will operate between the hours of 8 am to 11 am, while the Princes Town Court will be held from 11.15 am to 4.15 pm. The building will also accommodate the First Court sitting from 11.30 am to 1.30 pm and the Second Court from 1.45 pm to 345 pm.

Yesterday, scores of people from Princes Town who turned up at the Rio Claro building to have their matters heard, claimed there was a lengthy delay as Rio Claro matters went over the stipulated time.

They said that while lined up and waiting their turn outside, mid-morning showers descended, but they were chased from the building and a car park on the compound, by police officers and security guards, when they sought shelter.

“We were treated like dogs”, one woman said. “Across the road there was a sign on a building saying private property, so we could not go there, but when we went into the court building the police and guards told us to go from here, you can’t go there.”

An elderly woman sat on the pavement as she began feeling weak. Another pregnant woman who attempted to sit on a piece of concrete near the guard booth was also asked to leave.

“There is a small car park on the compound. Two cars were parked inside. When we went there to shelter we were again chased by the police who said this is where the magistrate had to come and she was afraid to walk into the crowd,” one woman said.

“This is the rainy season. There is no place to accommodate people from two courts. You have no place to sit inside or outside of the court. When your matter come up for hearing and the police call your name inside the court, you cannot hear because you are outside of the court,” another woman said.

She said the Judiciary must find better accommodation and, in a location closer to Princes Town.

Newsday sent a list of questions to the Judiciary’s communication department but received no response.