Christopher Thomas, STAR Writer

WESTERN BUREAU:

Courthouse clerks got a tongue-lashing at the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate's Court on Tuesday, after a simple-larceny case was revealed to still be stalled after a year.

Resident Magistrate (RM) Vivienne Harris gave the censure after the prosecution in the case against Richard Reynolds revealed that the forensic certificate in his matter has still not been placed on file.

Reynolds, of Red Hills in Montego Bay, is charged with simple larceny and receiving stolen property, arising from a matter in late 2010 where a stolen motor vehicle was found in his possession. His case first came before the court on February 18, 2011.

In court on Tuesday, after being told that the forensic certificate was still outstanding, RM Harris declared that she will not draw any inference to Reynolds' guilt based on circumstantial evidence. She declared that the case will go to trial with or without the outstanding document.

"You are given these files, and you have legal training. You need to sift through these files and decide what you are going to prosecute on ... you clearly have no evidence," she told the clerk.

She added that prosecutors failing to ensure that police officers follow up on their investigations is the reason for the current backlog of cases in the courts and why the country's justice system is not taken seriously.

"You have to direct the police, because they are not lawyers. It is not the police who direct the prosecution; it's the prosecution and the director of public prosecutions who direct the police," RM Harris advised.

" There must come a time when the prosecution is brought to book. We cannot have this kind of attitude to our work ... . There is no fire that is being put at the feet of the prosecution to get their house in order."

A trial date for Reynolds' matter was eventually set for June 5.