A missing court file which has resulted in a summons being issued to acting Commissioner of Police Tyrone Griffith, was a hot topic for debate last week among online readers.
The serious indecency case has been stalled for the past seven years, with the complainant turning up to court on each occasion, only to be told the same story.
The latest incident took place last Tuesday and Magistrate Douglas Frederick ordered the Commissioner to court on January 26, 2015, “because nobody seems to know where this file is”.
Here is the reaction from online readers.
• Pan Willie: Nothing new, but it is also a shame that [it] took so long to effect this action. Let’s see where it goes from here.
• Bajan Gal: If it was one of their daughters who was assaulted I am sure the file would be found real fast though. This is more evidence of how backward Barbados has become; ordinary citizens can’t get a fair hearing because of “lost” files.
• Olutoye Walrond: How absolutely ridiculous! Where is the justice for small people in this country when you have to wait more than seven years to get a hearing? A country with a dysfunctional justice system is on the border of anarchy.
• David Hall: Please tell me this is a misprint. If it’s not, the Attorney General and the Chief Justice should also have been summoned to account for such anomalies.
• Sheldine Dyall: Why should there be a lack of files? Are they missing, that is why some people who committed crime cannot face the courts? We have too much technology.
Meanwhile, a shortage of gurneys has hampered the ability of the Emergency Ambulance Service to respond to calls. Sources told the NATION Tuesday only two ambulances out of the five which were in operation at the start of the day were functioning because of the shortage.
In addition, the source said, the Ambulance Service was only able to respond to two of the 20 calls as the gurneys were being used at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH).
• Carl Harper: Expect the above crisis to worsen, and more, as the Freundel Stuart administration implements deeper budget cuts to close the deficit to GDP gap by the end of the fiscal year.
• Orson Arthur: I don’t know what to write and say about the QEH anymore.
• Robert Goode: And only this week the minister said Bajans may have to start paying for their health care. What health care when the “premier” health institution on the island is in mayhem!
• Wayne Webster: We have been warned to get a medical plan. If only we could all afford one for Bayview.
• Addison Cortlandt: We have a spanking new Kensington Oval down there. See if they can rent the QEH the space. This hospital needed upgrading for years [but] they chose to build a cricket [stadium]. I hope it can take care of all these issues.
• Nancy Boyce: Sad.
