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KINGSTON:
Member of Parliament for South Western St Ann, Ernest Smith, has said the Committal Proceedings Act will go a far way in reducing the pressure on the Resident Magistrates' courts and speed up the hearing of cases.
Smith was responding to comments from Member of Parliament for North West St Catherine, Robert Pickersgill as debate on the bill continued on September 27 in the House of Representatives.
The act seeks to abolish preliminary enquiries in Resident Magistrates' courts and provide for committal proceedings. The aim is to alleviate or reduce problems caused by and related to inordinate delay, high legal costs, and the unavailability of witnesses to give evidence.
Pickersgill, in his contribution, said he was not convinced that the legislation, if approved, would ease the backlog of cases in the system. He argued that the fast-tracking of cases from the Resident Magistrates' courts could cause a bottleneck in the high court.
"We don't have enough courtrooms ... and we don't have enough high court judges, or Crown counsels to take the traffic of cases, which will be fast-tracked to the high court," Pickersgill said.
He contended further that "in this bill, you haven't given us any figure as to how much will be saved, either in time or in money. When I look at the committal proceedings, there are several stages and it is going to take the same amount of time."
Smith, however, disagreed, pointing out that the provisions in the bill would ease the stress on resident magistrates.
"Resident Magistrate's courts all over this country are overwhelmed with the number of cases that the magistrate has to deal with. What the member may not appreciate is this, that in addition to the preliminary enquiries, which happen to be the magistrate's case, she's regarded, constitutionally, as the person responsible for prosecuting the case, not the clerk of the courts," he said.
He also noted that the passage of the bill would allow the resident magistrate to send a matter to the Circuit Court to be heard and determined within a time frame of two months or less.
"The matter is submitted to the Circuit Court and it doesn't, therefore, lend the opportunity for potential witnesses to lose interest, to be influenced by the other side. Cases will be heard and be determined much faster," Smith added.
