Attorney General Dale Marshall says his office will address legal challenges as they arise in cases where people are suing the State for the long time it has taken for their matters to be heard or decisions given.
His comments come amidst reports that there are more than 25 cases which attorneys drew to the attention of the Supreme Court Registrar in 2024, which had outstanding decisions.
Last week High Court judge, Justice Patrick Wells, delivered a trilogy of decisions in which he awarded close to half-million dollars in total to three litigants who sued the State for breach of their constitutional rights due to the time it took for their dealt with. In all of the cases, he found that the claimants’ constitutional rights to the protection of the law and to a fair hearing within a reasonable time had been breached.
“When one considers that members of society come to the court for a timely
resolution of their disputes, it seems to me that there must be some compulsion on the part of judicial officers to do the best they can to ensure that that occurs,” the judge stated in one matter.
“A vital part of that timeliness is the giving of decisions, whether on interlocutory applications or in final judgment, such that the parties can be clear as to the resolution that the court has determined in the dispute that they have brought to the court for a resolution.”
Asked if his office was considering settling these matters, Marshall told the DAILY NATION: “The solemn obligation of the Office of the Attorney General is to afford all persons the benefits of the constitutionally guaranteed rights and freedoms. In cases where individuals are able to successfully maintain a case that their rights have been infringed, then they may be entitled to monetary relief. But the courts are not bound to give monetary relief and there are numerous instances where courts have made declarations that the right in question has been infringed, but declined to award damages.
“In an appropriate case, we may seek to negotiate a settlement, but equally, for a variety of reasons, we are also equally likely to leave the decision to the court as to whether damages would be an appropriate remedy,” he added.
In terms of the floodgates being opened for such matters to be filed given the awards, the Attorney General said his office will be prepared to deal with them.
“There are quite possibly more cases that will be filed seeking redress where there has been delay in the hearing of cases and we will address those legal challenges when they arise. The fact is that when we came to Government, we had only two High Court judges doing criminal cases, and these judges were rotating on and off the criminal Bench. With over 1 000 criminal cases pending and more being added every day, and with only two judges, the kinds of delays that occasioned these lawsuits were inevitable.
“Happily, the rate at which cases, old and new, are being pushed through the criminal justice system has increased exponentially as the result of the appointment of an additional six judges to the criminal Bench and the employment of additional prosecutors,” he noted.
Marshall revealed that for 2024, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions completed 292 cases which included 58 firearm offences and 31 murders.
“This should be a clear signal that the days of criminal cases languishing in the criminal justice system are coming to an end,” he said.
In the same vein, he said civil matters were also receiving the same approach. “We have equally increased the number of judges in the Civil Division to reduce the backlog.” According to the report on the outstanding decisions sent by the Registrar, there were three cases which were more than ten years old – from 2006, 2007 and 2008. The names of nine judges were connected to the matters and in one instance, six matters were yet to be assigned.
A judicial official told the DAILY NATION that reform needed to take place from the top to the bottom if the vexing issues of backlogs is to be resolved, adding that both retired Chief Justices Sir Marston Gibson and Sir Patterson Cheltenham left the Bench with some outstanding Court of Appeal matters. (MB)
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