Bermuda official calls for review of judicial system

Tuesday, October 14, 2003

HAMILTON, Bermuda: Bermuda's Shadow Attorney General, Mr. Trevor Moniz, has called for a massive review of the colony's judicial system following a number of questionable outcomes in Bermuda's courts. Mr. Moniz said the Island should be following the same route as other jurisdictions in ordering the judicial system to undergo regular probes, as well as completing annual reports for Parliament, according to the Royal Gazette.

"The justice system in Bermuda is not working as well as it should be," said Mr. Moniz. "In other countries, services like the court system have an annual report, which is tabled to Parliament and I think it is time that Bermuda did the same. They detail things like how many cases there have been during the year and what the results were. A perfect example of this is the Police report, which is tabled every year here. We need a report from the court system, and then others from parts of it, such as the DPP's office and the AG's office. They would tell us where things needed to be improved."

But Mr. Moniz, who is himself a lawyer and former president of the Bermuda Bar Association, said a review of the judicial system every few years would also play an important role in ensuring justice was carried out.

"Going further than that, in other countries, and particularly in the UK, they have instituted quinquennial reports, which are about every five years, where they examine the role and organisation of an agency and consider what form of governance is appropriate," the Shadow Attorney General said. "They look at the status and structure of a particular agency and see if its achieving what it's supposed to be achieving. We should have a review of the justice system in Bermuda and we should have annual reports."

Mr. Moniz spoke out after claiming there had been a number of alarming results from the courts on the Island, according to the Sun.

Last week, knife attacker, Mr. Justis Raham Smith, was allowed to walk out of Supreme Court following his sentence hearing after Puisne Judge Charles-Etta Simmons said the 11 months he had spent on remand, coupled with the six weeks in prison since his conviction, was sufficient time in jail.
The 25-year-old, of Sunset Mews, Pembroke, had previously been found guilty of unlawfully wounding Ms. Shanae Outerbridge, causing bodily harm to someone else, and being in possession of an offensive weapon.

He also had previous convictions for violence, and the judge's decision led Acting Director of Public Prosecutions Kulandra Ratneser to appeal the sentence.

Less than a month ago, a convicted paedophile walked free from court after a jury cleared him of sexually assaulting a six-year-old boy.

But the man's lawyer, Larry Mussenden, launched a scathing attack on the Police investigation into the 2001 incident, and claimed they could have made the job of defending the 27-year-old a lot more difficult.

And in August six men charged with conspiring to smuggle $11 million worth of cannabis and $600,000 worth of heroin into the Island had their case dismissed when prosecutors failed to appear in court and a further adjournment was not granted.

The senior prosecutors were tied up in the Justis Smith case, and a junior prosecutor was sent to ask for an adjournment, but it was not granted.

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