An amendment to the Court Process Act, which is expected to be debated in the House of Assembly today, will make it criminal for anyone found guilty of impersonating a marshal either by dress or using the name, designation or description of any marshal.

Attorney-General and Minister of Home Affairs Dale Marshall under whose name the Bill is tabled, said in a telephone interview with the DAILY NATION on Sunday it would also seek to clamp down on instances where people pretended to be marshals to gain access to someone's home or another place, as had happened before.

"A court marshal is the unsung hero of the judicial system. They provide a wide range of services, from maintaining order in court
to the serving of process and to the carrying out of court orders. The job can put them in harm's way fairly often.

"Equally, because of the job we're trying to bring some dignity and respectability to the profession. It's one of the posts that people can take advantage of . . . ," Marshall said.

Anyone found guilty of either offence is liable on summary conviction to a fine of $5 000 or to imprisonment for a term
of 12 months or both.

Also down for debate is the Supreme Court of Judicature (Amendment) Bill and a money resolution in the name of Minister of Economic Affairs and Development Mia Mottley, which seeks to grant the sum of $7 068 685 from the Consolidation Fund and to place it at the disposal of Government to supplement certain heads of the current Estimates.

The sitting gets under way at 10 a.m. (DS)