Judge says public not attending court to watch criminal trials 

High Court judge Rickie Burnett says he has noticed that fewer people are coming to the courtroom to observe trials.

“I don’t know if it is because we are located not at the old courthouse building, but I’ve noticed since I’ve been back that persons no longer coming to the courtroom,” Burnett said at the closing of the assizes.

Since January, only one High Court courtroom has been hearing criminal matters as a second judge is yet to be appointed after Justice Brian Cottle retired. 

The single court sits on the top floor of the D’Ville Plaza in Kingstown and there is no sign indicating its location.

At the same time, the 200-year-old building that was originally the home of the High Court has been shuttered in disrepair across the street, since December.

Parliament stopped meeting on the upper floor of that building in June 2023, when the House of Assembly moved to temporary quarters in Calliaqua.

The former BoSVG building on Bedford and Grenville streets in the Market Square is being retrofitted as a temporary home for the High Court while construction of a hall of justice in Richmond Hill is yet to commence.

Speaking last week at the special sitting of the High Court to mark the end of the assizes, Justice Burnett said some complainants leave after giving evidence. 

“Accused persons are here, and no family member or members come around. That is rather strange to me. Once upon a time, that was not so. We have really changed as a people and as a society,” the judge said. 

He was speaking during a sitting in which he apologised for the noise coming from one of the lower floors, seemingly as a result of construction. 

“We are operating from rented quarters. So I do apologise, but we are taking steps to have that addressed,” the judge said.

Speaking during the same sitting, the President of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Bar Association, Shirlan “Zita” Barnwell, noted the judge’s comments. 

“But I think what we need to do is to rebuild that culture of openness and accessibility,” she said, adding that decades ago, the courtyard would be full when a trial was taking place. 

Barnwell said the public learns about the justice system when they come to court and listen to the proceeding. 

She said technology could play a role in this regard, adding that a colleague who lived overseas and wants to return to SVG to practise had asked her recently about remote access to the court.

Barnwell said she had suggested that the lawyer attach to counsel based in SVG, who would then ask the court to grant remote access to the proceedings.

“But we have the technology. I don’t think there’s anything stopping us. We’re able to watch the CCJ when they are giving decisions. We’re able to watch matters via video of the Privy Council, and so we should be able to implement that as well, even if it’s just for our citizens,” Barnwell said.

She noted that Zoom was used to allow the public access to the hearing in the Vaccine Mandate Case.

“… when we had that trial, [a judge] commented because they had to limit the number of us on the platform. … If we had a physical court, it couldn’t hold all of those persons. There were over 200 persons on that platform.”

The lawyer said that while 200 people cannot fit in the physical courtroom, “perhaps what we want to see is sometimes even 20 persons who are able to log on to witness the manner in which a trial is executed or even bail applications “.

She said that too often people do not understand these proceedings, adding that the Bar Association plans to work with the police, the Director of Public Prosecution and the Registrar of the High Court to execute public information programmes.