Magistrate Douglas Frederick too weak, too timid to take on disrespectful police officers.

Accused waiting five and a half years for trial – Barbados Police don’t show for latest court date.

Magistrate Douglas Frederick lets them get away with it again.

Where was Sergeant Catwell?

The charges against the accused are serious. On January 20, 2010, police arrested Michael James Springer for having an illegal gun and ammunition.

Now, five and a half years later, our justice system is just getting to the preliminary hearing but the two main police witnesses didn’t bother to show up for court date known months in advance. One witness, Sergeant Catwell, was on holiday and, according to Station Sergeant Neville Watson, couldn’t be found. The other witness, Sergeant Leslie, was on a training course and so couldn’t attend at court.

Let’s just think about that for a minute, shall we?

Sergeant Catwell knew many months ago that the case was coming to court on July 8, 2015, but he went away on holiday anyway and “efforts to locate him had proven futile.”

Really? On this tiny rock, none of Catwell’s fellow police know where he is? Nobody knows his mobile phone number? Nobody left a message? Nobody knows his email address?

And what training could be so important as to cause a police witness to ignore the court? Sergeant Leslie couldn’t take a morning off his so very important training course to testify?

Obviously the two involved police officers do not respect the courts, the judicial process or their duty to Barbados.

Time for the learned judge to start issuing arrest warrants for police officers who thumb their noses at the court and the law.

Magistrate Douglas Frederick’s statement that it was “unfortunate that Leslie was away on training and was in High Court on the last occasion” is a capitulation to police disrespect of the courts. Magistrate Frederick looks like he is too weak, timid and fearful to uphold the law. Just a few days ago BFP reported in another trial Magistrate Douglas tossed a drug trafficking case when the police witnesses didn’t show up… but Frederick let the police turn their backs on the courts and never held them to account for failing to show.

And he just did it again…

No one-sided justice, attorney tells Magistrate

Terming it “totally ridiculous,” attorney-at-law Vonda Pile asked today that a matter involving her client be dismissed.

Michael James Springer faces charges of having a gun and ammunition on January 20, 2010. The 29-year-old lives at Headley’s Land, Deacons Road, St Michael.

When the preliminary hearing began yesterday, Station Sergeant Neville Watson told the court of the unavailability of the two police witnesses.  

Witness fails to appear in court – accused set free, absent witness faces no penalty…. Welcome to Barbados!

Nothing to do with this case… just an illustration of reality when the police make witnesses’ names known!

Intimidating a witness is standard operating procedure in Barbados.

Five years for a marijuana case to come to trial in Barbados!!!

The Court should have issued a warrant for the arrest of the witness and dug into the “why” behind the witness failing to show. This happens time and time again and undermines everything from the police to the court.

Magistrate Douglas Frederick dismissed a 2010 case in the District ‘A’ Magistrates Court today, after a police witness who was supposed to testify was absent from court.

Hezron Joseph Williams, who was previously charged with possession, trafficking and intent to supply marijuana in October 2010, was therefore free to go.

Williams, 27, resides at Hutson Alley, Reed Street, The City.

When the case came up for hearing in the morning, Station Sergeant Neville Watson said he expected the witness to be at court by midday.

When it was called again in the afternoon and the prosecutor was questioned by the Magistrate, he said he still had not heard from the witness.

Magistrate Frederick determined that “unless he (the witness) has a reasonable excuse or some type of emergency, the case would have to be viewed differently”.

He therefore dismissed the matter.

Disgusting!

Barbados Government ignores another court order to pay.

Shanique Myrie, Al Barrack and now George Edghill – each owed money by the Government of Barbados and each ignored for months or years, nevermind having a court order.

The government says they paid Myrie last Friday after ignoring her for nine months. Maybe they did pay her, probably did, but it was only because of the public pressure. The government does what it wants to when it wants to and says ‘piss on the court.’

Are there any others out there who have an unpaid judgment against the Government of Barbados?

Let’s hear about it!

Nation News: George Edghill “Pay me too”

Barbados ignores court orders to pay Shanique Myrie, Al Barrack

Al Barrack reduced to this to try and have the government obey the court.

What if you sue the Government of Barbados and the court orders Barbados to pay you? What then?

For contractor Al Barrack, it has been eight years since the court ordered the Government to pay up $34 million. The government’s response was to thumb its nose at the court and attempt to destroy Al Barrack as his world crumbled around him. And that’s what they have been doing to Al Barrack since 2006.

And why shouldn’t the government thumb its nose at the court? Everybody on this rock knows how cosy things are between the political elites and the courts. If a judge isn’t married or cousin to a political elite, it’s a surprise ’bout hey. Even our last Chief Justice was himself a politician. In small island nations you can’t get away from this incest. It’s just the way things are.

But once the court orders payment, you’d figure there would be compliance, right? Ha! What do you know?

The government is broke – so payment of court settlements and orders are no priority at all. If the government doesn’t just do what it wants and send in the military, it will ignore you like Shanique Myrie, Al Barrack and others who usually fade away and give up.

Shanique Myrie though is high profile and poisoning Jamaican-Bajan relations so she’ll probably be paid. The AG says Miss Myrie will be paid this week, but Myrie probably won’t believe him until the money is actually in her bank account.

And Al Barrack? The government says it will pay him next month. Wuhloss! That’s the same thing PM Stuart said two years ago!

Sure, sure: Barrack will be paid. And the tooth fairy is real.

Murder assassination of Special Prosecutor Dana Seetahal terrible – but no surprise

Dana Seetahal murdered Sunday May 4, 2014

Courts and legal disputes are dangerous business in the Caribbean

submitted by Gary M. Further editing by Robert.

Folks who have lived all their lives in the UK or the USA do not understand what it means to be involved in a legal dispute or criminal trial in any Caribbean, Central or South American country. The reality is this: involvement with the courts can be dangerous business. Even minor disputes can produce threats, beatings or worse. That is generally not the way it is in the USA and UK, but in small island nations it is not unheard of for legal arguments to be put forward through cricket bats or Molotov cocktails in the dark of night.

And just because a person is in a legal dispute with the government is no guarantee of safety. Some say with good reason “Sue de guvment. Trouble for you!“

Where does this disrespect for law and the courts come from in the Caribbean?   

Anna Druzhinina murder: Persaud appealing sentence, Barbados Court stonewalls journalist

Zero Transparency or Accountability from Barbados courts…

One is not permitted to take notes or record in courts in Barbados, even public criminal proceedings. The press is gagged until after the trial is over. Then one cannot get any transcripts of the proceedings, motions, and findings.

Over a year later and I am still waiting on the High Court’s registrar’s office to provide me with DPP Leacock’s recommendations for sentencing of the two murderers of Anna Druzhinina, one in 2010 and one in 2012. They got manslaughter for hanging her.

So what is the definition of transparency?

Amy L. Beam, journalist and BFP contributor

Below article originally published on February 13, 2013…

Barbados Free Press

Censorship and a Travesty of Justice

By Amy L. Beam, Ed.D

As of today, I have waited over one month for the chief registrar in the court’s registrar’s office to provide me with the written statements of DPP Leacock in the sentencing recommendations for McCollin (2010) and Persaud (2012). In common parlance, this is known as stone-walling. Silence does not mean I’m finished with this issue.

Also, I was told at the court house that Persaud is appealing his sentencing.

So Barbados is a country with complete judicial secrecy. In the courtroom I was not allowed to have paper, pen, or recording devices. Now I have been refused ALL documents relating to both of the convicted men.

“The case is over, the verdicts and sentencing have been rendered, yet the documents are being kept secret. Does Barbados seal documents after a murder or manslaughter trial? Is the international community taking…

View original post 67 more words

Queen’s Counsel apologizes to High Court Justice, but…

The unnamed lawyer in our original story has been named as Alair Shepherd, Queen’s Counsel. Mr. Shepherd has apologized to High Court Justice Dr Sonia Richards, but the full story in the Nation tells the all-too-familiar tale of a broken court system where the focus is on process, not on results or justice.

Mr. Shepherd should not have done what he did, but in a court system where civil cases often take 15 or 20 years to reach trial we can expect to see the rivets starting to pop as the pressure builds on the boiler call the Barbados Courts. (By the way, why is Chief Justice Gibson in South Africa? Shouldn’t he be staying at home and trying to clean up this mess?)

Here’s the article from the Nation. Please read it at their website here, but unfortunately we have to print it all here because if we don’t, they will change the story as it suits the changing politics.

Sorry!

Queen’s Counsel Alair Shepherd – the man at the centre of the outburst involving High Court Justice Dr Sonia Richards last week – has confirmed that he apologized to her, but said the incident was a result of his frustration over the administration of justice.

In an interview with the DAILY NATION yesterday, Shepherd said his behaviour before the judge should not detract from the real issue, which was the continuing delay of an extremely important case touching on the ability of the Royal Barbados Police Force (RBPF) to discharge its duties.

Last Monday, Shepherd had an outburst before the judge. He then backed Justice Richards, raised his robe and bent over.

Barbados lawyer shows backside to judge, tells her to “Kiss my Ass”… and the judge runs away!

How much is rumour? How much it true?

I don’t know much about normal behaviours by lawyers and judges because I try to avoid contact with those kinds of people at all costs. What really happened in the Nation’s story? Who are the people?

But I have a feeling that when this type of behaviour goes unpunished (if it happened as rumoured), it’s really all over. And what’s with the judge running away? What does that say about how the judge views her authority? What the #$@! is happening ’bout hey?

Hopefully this will not be another incident like gun in Parliament where the public were left not knowing what really happened but the respect for Parliament was undermined.

From The Nation…

Legal Shocker!

AN INCIDENT earlier this week involving a veteran attorney at law and a High Court judge has left the legal fraternity in an uproar.

According to reports a Queen’s Counsel after a verbal outburst directed at the female judge, turned around and backed her, lifted his robe and bent over while uttering a profanity.

Barbados solution to 20-year court backlog: throw it all out, nevermind justice and the victims

How long would any Harlequin Resorts court cases take to reach trial?

by Nevermind Kurt

Sophisticated business and financial industry investors have long had the word: civil cases in Barbados take at least 10 years and often up to 20 years to make their way through the courts. Many court cases never finish because witnesses, victims, plaintiffs, defendants, lawyers and judges move away or die.

When cases take 15 or 20 years to get to trial, people often die or go broke – or both. After 15 or 20 years plaintiffs can no longer afford their lawyers. Defendants go bankrupt (sometimes planned) – leaving victims no real prospect of recovering anything.

“New business investors in Barbados now make their decisions accordingly in the knowledge that if things go wrong there will probably be no real recourse through a lawsuit.”

But consider what this means for existing investors and business people who didn’t know about the state of our courts when they made their original decisions about doing business or entering into legal contracts in Barbados. Consider what this means now for all those potential Harlequin victims. If they want justice in Barbados, they have two choices: be prepared to spend the next decade or two and tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees in pursuit of justice, or walk away.

“Chief Justice Marston Gibson: Court chaos threatens Barbados international business sector

Marston Gibson describes massive backlog, missing case files, deliberate delaying tactics by unscrupulous profiteering lawyers”

from BFP’s March 12, 2012 article: Shocking mathematics of the Barbados Court system: Thousands of cases will never reach conclusion

The reality of the court system in Barbados

Faced with an unbelievable backlog approaching 3000 cases, Chief Justice SIR Marston Gibson has decided to give thousands of folks a shove to abandon all hope for justice through the courts of Barbados.

Chief Justice Gibson admits no progress on court backlog

Barbados Chief Justice Marston Gibson

Still over 3,000 case backlog. Justice system collapsing.

Some cases finished, waiting 19 years for judgment!

Almost a year ago Barbados Chief Justice Marston Gibson warned that a massive backlog, missing case files and deliberate delaying tactics by unscrupulous profiteering lawyers were threatening the very foundations of our justice system.

Gibson blew away the pretences of the previous Chief Justice, Sir David Simmons – whose failed and putrid legacy as Attorney General and Chief Justice is exposed more and more with each new revelation.

If the system took on no new cases, it would take 18 years at the present rate of case completion to clear the backlog… but there are 1500 – 2000 new cases per year!

“So here we are almost a year later and Chief Justice Gibson reveals that the courts are still clogged with over 3,000 cases on backlog. Not a lick of progress in a year.”

Enquiring minds ask ‘How many new courts and new judges were added in the past year?’

But we know the answer: none.

Doesn’t the government get it? This is the very foundation of our country and of our offshore banking industry. If foreign money can’t depend upon our courts to be just and timely, it’s all over!

Chief Justice Marston Gibson could make it happen if he was given the budget… but the money is gone – long ago spent on cricket parties, celebrations and council handouts.

Oh well… the law, the courts and justice were never high on the agenda for either the BLP or the DLP governments.

If you need justice folks, don’t even think about the courts. Do what you can on your own.

And lest you think that’s bad advice, it’s the same you’ll receive from the Chief Justice, who tells Barbados “alternative dispute resolution (ADR) may be the only solution to this long-standing judicial ailment”

Alternative dispute resolution… otherwise known as private courts.

Further Reading

Please read the Nation article online here, but we have to print it all because the Bajan media sometimes removes articles to change history according to revised agendas…

It’s a must!

WITH a backlog of over 3 000 court cases, Chief Justice Marston Gibson believes that alternative dispute resolution (ADR) may be the only solution to this long-standing judicial ailment.

Robert Ross: Courting Disaster – Justice Delayed in our Barbados Courts

Attorneys often unfairly blamed for delays in the courts

At the request of one of BFP’s prolific commenters, ‘Robert Ross’, we’ve opened a new page where Mr. Ross and others so inclined keep us all apprised of some of the court delays and other disasters in justice.

Mr. Ross is not a lawyer but in his own words was “in the law in my way for 44 years.” He obviously is still privy to stories and situations that the public doesn’t usually hear about. He also rightly observes that many of the delays are caused by the court system, but often it is the attorneys who are unfairly blamed.

Here’s the first contribution from Mr. Ross, and you’ll also find it at the top under the “Courting Disaster” tab. If Mr. Ross will continue to leave his work as comments or submit them via email or our contact page, we’ll be happy to maintain a central list of just how long folks have to wait for justice in our understaffed and inefficient Barbados courts.

robert ross
May 30, 2012 at 4:16 pm
@ BFP

Due Process in this blog refers to delay caused by attorneys. I have some sympathy with that, though not in relation to the criminal justice system. I do recognise, of course that Due Process’ perception is a common one – and it is one fuelled by information ‘pushed’ by the Free Presses – which is sometimes very misleading.

I am not a practising lawyer – though I was in the law in my way for 44 years. I am saying this to make the point that I have no axe to grind. I do have access to information, however, which would not be accessible by those who are not lawyers. So on this question of delay, I intend to publish ‘delay’ situations as I meet them in the hope of achieving a better understanding of its causes. I will publish them in the most recent posts – if you will permit me.

Here are two cases which came my way today. Both relate to family matters.

Case 1 – Access

The case came up for hearing in mid-March. A Welfare report was ordered and the case adjourned till early April. At the April hearing there was no report. The case was adjourned till end of May. At the May hearing there was still no report. The same lawyers appeared on all three occasions.

The Welfare Department is over stretched and there was difficulty in locating one of the parties for Welfare to compile the report..

Crooked Bajan lawyer Mortimer Clarke: How much did he steal this time?

What a joke. Barbados lawyer given second chance: arrested again!

Former Chief Justice Sir David Simmons

Back in May of 2008 we told you how the Barbados Court of Appeal said thief lawyer Mortimer Clarke was OK to practice law again.

As BFP then wrote…

True to form, the old boys’ network reluctantly imposed only a nine-month suspension on a Barbados lawyer who was caught stealing $150,000 of client’s money from his “trust” account. Just to put this in perspective, anywhere in the civilized world a lawyer could expect a year or two in jail and permanent disbarment for similar activities. Not so in Barbados where the legal profession is apparently happy to accept Mortimer Clarke back into its welcoming arms after he has a little vacation. (“Pity you had a client complain, Morty old chap. We’ll have to make a show of it for a few months. Hope you understand.”)

… from BFP’s May 24, 2008 post: Barbados Court Of Appeal Says Thief Lawyer Mortimer Clarke OK To Practice Law

So Chief Justice Sir David Simmons and the boys gave Morty another chance.

What happened next? HA!

Bajan Reporter has the sad tale with more information than is printed in the newspapers.

Bajan Reporter: Ex-Attorney-at-law charged for theft

The shared legacy of Chief Justice Simmons and Commissioner of Police Dottin

Missing and incomplete police court files

Submitted by ‘JW’

Sometimes when things go wrong with the court or with the police, it is a money issue for which the blame should fall squarely on the BLP and DLP politicians who starved the courts and police budgets for two decades.

Sometimes though, what goes wrong is not a money issue or an equipment issue or a lack of laws issue.

Sometimes it’s all about poor leadership and unprofessional management.

This is one of those times.

When court and police management don’t set standards and monitor compliance and performance you can expect exactly this to happen: just as it has been happening for years…

Chaos in the courts

If this sounds like chaos to you, you’re getting the picture. For years Chief Justice Simmons was obsessed with building a shiny new court, and he ignored managing the process in the courts. For years Commissioner of Police Dottin was obsessed with arresting criminals and he ignored managing the prosecution procedures – what happens to the criminals after they are arrested.

The end result is what we have today in 2012: a broken system that could be fixed with a little top-down attention in the courts and the police. It would take leadership and management skills to fix this, and not much of anything else.

I hope our new Chief Justice is listening.

Submitted by JW

Editor’s note: We encourage our readers to visit the Nation News website to read the following newspaper story, but we have to reprint the entire story here because the Nation has proven many times that it deletes or modifies stories to suit political agendas.

Please read The Nation story Call for new police procedures

Call for new police procedures

A lack of files with which to prosecute matters has left the newest magistrate on the Bench upset and calling for new procedures by police.

Magistrate Graveney Bannister said there was no reason why matters from 2009 should be without the relevant documents.

Why did the Barbados Chief Town Planner secretly set aside an Enforcement Notice for a year?

What does Chief Justice Marston Gibson think of this kind of nonsense in our Courts?

Why did the Chief Town Planner wait for a year to send out an Enforcement Notice?

Did he finally send out the notice only because he was called to testify in court?

This is a strange one indeed.

The Southern Palms Beach Hotel registered a complaint with the Chief Town Planner in January 2002. The complaint had to do with work being done by another party close to the hotel’s property.

The Chief Town Planner investigated and prepared an Enforcement Notice in October of 2002 but did not send it.

The notice was only sent a year later on October 29, 2003 – the day before the Chief Town Planner was called to appear before the court and give testimony.

Was this a mistake? Was there some nefarious agenda at play?

Or… is it simply another example of how things work (or don’t work) at Town and Country Planning?

No wonder cases and disputes can take decades to make it through the Barbados Courts. Would courts in the USA or the UK stand for such nonsense?

Here is the court decision where Mr. Justice Carlisle Payne lays out a most unusual situation. Perhaps our readers or someone from Town and Country Planning can explain this…

BARBADOS

[Unreported]

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF JUDICATURE

HIGH COURT

CIVIL JURISDICTION

No. 504 of 2003

BETWEEN:

DEBDOR COMPANY LIMITED
(Plaintiff)

AND

PROSPECT BAY RESORTS LIMITED
(Defendant)

Barbados Chief Justice Gibson called “Our best chance…”

The Bajan Reporter: “Marston Gibson is our best chance…”

Chief Justice Marston Gibson is fighting the old boy network, but because he’s not really part of it he’s our best chance. Think of it: he has a pension and independent wealth from his career in the USA. He was away from the island and the politics. He has been conditioned by his law practice in the USA where they wouldn’t put up with 10% of the abuses that happen in our courts. He was in Nassau County where he’s used to slapping lawyers upside the head and telling them to get on with it. So far, I like the man based on his presentations.

If Gibson can bring rule of law to Barbados courts, modernize the courts so the system works, his legacy for good done for Bim might far exceed that of many more famous and revered.

“Even in the Supreme Court, judges are taking evidence in longhand. In civil cases, Judges are still taking evidence in longhand.”

Chief Justice Marston Gibson shows his disgust with our outdated and ineffective court system

Barbados has no court reporters so there are generally no transcripts made. Lawyers stand up one week and say X and next week they say Y and there is no record. Check it out.

Chief Justice Gibson even cites such an incident in this video where a file VANISHES. Without transcripts and proper records nobody can be held accountable and the system devolves into “he said, she said” fights all the time.

Continue to read Ian Bourne’s excellent report on Chief Justice Gibson’s presentation to the UWI Alumni Association (complete with YouTube video of the CJ’s speech.)

How can our new Chief Justice succeed without proper funding?

Politicians would rather spend money on frivolities than foundational infrastructure

by BFP reader RRRicky (with Marcus)

Our newly-appointed Chief Justice, Marston Gibson, gave an interview in the Antigua Observer where he laid out his plans to implement the new civil procedure laws that were passed in Barbados in 2008.

Good Luck to Chief Justice Gibson. He’s going to need lots of luck because luck is all he has: there is no money for the staffing and operational improvements he wants to make. We have a brand new court building (with a leaky roof) that we’ll be paying out forever (and we aren’t allowed to know who we’re paying or how much) but we don’t have court reporters, administrative assistants or legal researchers to empower the Judges and the Justice system.

How tragic: a beautiful building financed on the never-never – but no budget for sufficient people, computers and equipment to make the system work as it should. Nice building though!

Another difference is that referees do not have the same legal support structure as judges. They do not have law clerks or secretaries and, therefore, must do their own legal research when drafting opinions, Gibson said.

To that end, he said, he will be able to relate to judges in Barbados, who also do not have clerks and secretaries to help them.

“One of the big-ticket items for me is to try to give some thought to how I can get them some assistance, so that they can concentrate on judging and have some assistance with their research and their writing,” Gibson said.

Barbados Chief Justice Mastron Gibson in the Antigua Observer

Our Justice System is foundational to our society, so why don’t politicians fund it properly?

Think of the Justice System as necessary societal infrastructure: just like sewers, water, power, policing, health care, roads etc.. Barbados governments prefer to spend money on big flashy projects or small give-aways traded for votes: not on necessary infrastructure. A cricket showplace is sexy and a great photo opportunity – sewerage treatment plants are not vote-getter sexy.

Barbados governments don’t mind giving away millions for weed-eaters and lawn care equipment in a failed effort to make entrepreneurs out of block layabouts, but to provide funding to put sufficient telephones and court reporting equipment in the new court building? Never!

Seldom do our governments put adequate money into basic infrastructure like sewers, sidewalks, water distribution, policing, hospital or justice until things get so bad that they are falling apart. Consider the library. Think of the state of our health care facilities.

Chief Justice Simmons had conflicting loyalties… and the BLP usually came first

The last Chief Justice was an integral part of the politics and the political decisions that devoted spending to frills, not to the foundations of our society. Sir David Simmons left us with a shiny new building and a broken, understaffed court system where cases often drag on for over a decade and sometimes two! He and his BLP left us with a court system where accused persons spend years in jail waiting for trials that never happen. Sir David kept his silence about that because it was his own BLP comrades who were to blame.

Marston Gibson is different. I believe he will work with what he is given, but if it isn’t enough, his loyalty will be to Barbados and making our Justice System the best it can be. Chief Justice Gibson has already shown that he speaks his mind without concern for the political elites.

I like that. It gives me hope that we finally have a Chief Justice whose first loyalty is to the people, not to his old political comrades.

You watch: if the politicians don’t provide an adequate budget to allow Barbados to have the justice system it deserves, we’re going to hear about it right from the Chief Justice. There will be no whitewashing or looking the other way with this man.

I like that a lot.

Brooklyn Judge wants to be a Barbados judge right now!

“They (Barbados Judges) live a pretty supreme life.”

A group of fifteen Barbadian students touring a Brooklyn, New York court to learn about the differences between the American and Bajan justice systems came away with a bit of culture shock.

You see, in the United States while there are daily failures to reach the lofty goals expressed in the American Declaration of Independence and Constitution – it is recognized in law and societal attitudes that every person, no matter high born or low born, has equal rights and status before the law. There are “ruling classes” in the USA, but to be judged by “a jury of one’s peers” is to be judged by other citizens no matter their income, class or education.

As we know, that’s not so in Barbados.

Former Chief Justice (and Acting PM) SIR David Simmons

In Barbados, to find oneself standing before a court is to be judged not by your peers, but to be judged by a select member of the pampered elites. In the case of the last Chief Justice, that also meant to be judged by a former Acting Prime Minister and political backroom plotter.

That’s hardly justice being seen to be done, especially if you were a DLP member!

Class consciousness and status is ingrained into our Bajan psyches from the day we’re born. That was true hundreds of years ago under the British Empire and it’s true now. We’ve retained all the colonial attitudes and trappings except instead of having race-based elitism, we substitute class-based elitism.

In the United States, Judges are seen to be trusted servants of the people, who are still required to obey the laws themselves. Yes, they have status, but everyone knows they still put on their pants one leg at a time.

Contrast the US attitudes with the pomp and primping in our Bajan courts – where justice for the ordinary person is secondary to the primary goal of intimidating the lower classes and keeping them in their places. Ten and fifteen year trials are nothing in Barbados because it’s all about the court system’s pleasure and convenience and nothing to do with the poor sod who’s waiting for justice.

How does the Brooklyn USA judge view the lot of Barbados judges? Her reaction says everything…

But is was (US Judge) Dowling who was the shocked one, when the students told her how the judges in Barbados are treated.

They are addressed as “Milord” and “Milady,” they don’t pay taxes, they have personal chauffeurs and body guards, get lifelong salaries for pensions, and are even allowed to bypass traffic jams. “I’m going to Barbados! … Today!,” Dowling joked.

“They live a pretty supreme life,” a student summarized.

… from the Brooklyn Eagle story: From Barbados to Brooklyn – The Caribbean’s Future Lawyers Visit America for a Dose of ‘Mom, God and Apple Pie’

Chaos in the courts: Bar Association President shouts at Judge for Hearing

How backed up are our Barbados Courts?

“I just want a hearing!” Pilgrim yelled.

“I told you wait,” Acting Chief Magistrate Holder yelled back.

This much…

Courtroom shouting match

A SHOUTING MATCH erupted in a Bridgetown courtroom yesterday.

It was between prominent attorney and president of the Bar Association, Andrew Pilgrim, and Acting Chief Magistrate Deborah Holder arguing about the fate of an accused person who appeared in the District “A” Magistrates’ Court.

“I just want a hearing!” Pilgrim yelled.

“I told you wait,” Acting Chief Magistrate Holder yelled back.

Full story in today’s dead tree version of The Nation