A FORMER APPEAL Court judge and Attorney General is calling on Government to increase the number of magistrates in order to speed up criminal trials.
In fact, explained Sir Frederick Smith, when the hearing of criminal cases was delayed for years, the society did not benefit from information which might be obtained during the trial that could help explain trends and combat crime.
Sir Frederick, once a much sought after criminal attorney, called on current Attorney General Adriel Brathwaite to find the money necessary to put more magistrates on the bench, and Chief Justice Sir Marston Gibson to put down his foot on measures that would speed up trials.
Failure to try cases in a reasonable time, he said, meant that with the current upsurge in crime, the country was not hearing the evidence that would explain the motives involved.
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