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A senior police officer has highlighted the need to address issues in the judicial system as part of Saint Lucia’s crime-fighting strategy.
“I’m not blaming the judiciary per se, but it takes a while for a case to be heard,” Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) George Nicholas said on Wednesday night.
Nikola spoke during an appearance on the Hot 7 Television program ‘The hot seat.‘
“There is a saying that justice delayed is justice denied,” he noted.
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In this regard, he referred to what he described as ‘a typical example’.
Nicholas recalled that around 2012 he conducted an identification procedure in a robbery case involving two witnesses and two suspects.
But he explained that the case was only heard last year.
He announced that by then, one of the witnesses and one of the defendants had passed away.
In addition, Nicholas recalled that the police had charged the surviving witness with a robbery and he was in the Bordelais Correctional Institution (BCF).
“And when he came to court he claimed he was receiving threats,” the senior police officer said ‘The hot seat’.
Nicholas said, as a result, the witness wanted to drop the case.
“So you see because of the length of time it takes for a case to go to trial, it kind of hinders or affects the successful outcome of the case,” he noted.
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Nikola explained that some cases involve children.
However, he noted that by the time the case is reviewed, the children have become adults.
“And for them to relive that whole experience is more traumatizing than when the case happened,” he said.
“So if something could happen whereby you have — I don’t know if it’s going to take more magistrates or more judges, whatever the case may be to expedite some of those cases, I think that would be a step in the right direction in fighting crime,” Nicholas noted.
Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre has promised to reduce the backlog of court cases by appointing new judges to the criminal justice system.
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