Judge: Stop the blame game

A HIGH COURT judge has said the blame game in the justice system “sickens” her, even as she accepted responsibility for some of the failures.

“We like throw blame around, eh, boy. Everyone just do what they have to do,” was comment of Justice Lisa Ramsumair-Hinds on Monday, at the status hearing of a man who has been awaiting trial for murder for over a decade.

Ramsumair-Hinds was responding to a complaint by the public defender that the prosecution had had sufficient time to put its house in order.

Earlier, at the start of the status hearing, the prosecutors told the judge the state was still having difficulty in getting two witnesses – a woman who now cannot be located and another who lives in Malaysia.

Senior state prosecutor Anju Bhola said at first the state intended to file an application using the “fear” provision of the criminal court rules, but may now have to advance one under the “witness cannot be located” provision. The same applies for another witness in Malaysia, since, she said, Interpol has not been able to get information from the Malaysian authorities.

Bhola asked for three weeks to get updated information from the police so they can file their applications.

Although the judge raised concerns over the length of time the accused has been on remand, public defender Whitney Franklin said the issues had existed since the preliminary inquiry and were “becoming untenable.”

She said the accused was frustrated and wants to proceed to trial.

But, Ramsumair-Hinds said the defence, even before the public defenders department was assigned the matter, also had to take some blame, adding that there has been much indiscipline in the criminal division of the High Court, with attorneys paying little regard to the rules, particularly on adhering to timelines.

She reminded there was no way the state could have started the process it was now engaging in, until it got a trial date.

“It would be a futile waste of time…I can only hold the state accountable for when I signalled a trial date.”

She admitted the court could have driven the process much sooner, but the matter was not always docketed to her and when it was, she indicated when she wanted to start the trial.

Although she is engaged in another murder trial, when that ends, Ramsumair-Hinds said, this one will start and "will end before the law term ends."

She gave prosecutors until April 12 to file their applications as well as respond to defence enquiries on the outcome of any analysis done on phones or laptop seized by police.