A murder trial that began in Supreme Court No. 3 on Tuesday marked a number of historic firsts for Barbados’ judicial system, including the introduction of alternate jurors and a formal change in how judges are addressed.
For the first time in the country’s legal history, a 12-member jury was empanelled along with three alternate jurors, marking a major shift in courtroom procedure aimed at reducing trial delays.
At the same time, judges are now officially addressed as “Your Honour” instead of the traditional “My Lord” or “My Lady,” reflecting the island’s evolving identity as a republic.
“This will be the first case we have done like this in Barbados in the history of trials,” presiding judge Justice Carlisle Greaves told jurors as the case against Adrian Ryan Jones, of Enterprise Main Road, Christ Church, and Jamal Omar Anthony Maynard, of No. 21 St Paul’s Avenue, Bayville, St Michael, got underway. The duo is accused of the shooting death of Shae Hackett on September 6, 2021. They have pleaded not guilty.
Justice Greaves explained that the three alternate jurors, who will sit through the entire case like regular jurors, are being included as a safeguard.
“You must listen to the case the same way as all the other cases,” said the judge. “You follow the same rules as all the other jurors . . . so whatever instruction I give, you must follow. If any juror has to be replaced for any reason during the trial, before we come to the deliberation stage of the trial — that is the stage where you are sent out to consider the verdict — the alternate juror will be used to replace that juror or those jurors . . . . If none dropped out and we come to the stage where we are going to deliberate, it is at the stage before the deliberation that the alternate jurors will be discharged and play no further part in the trial,” Greaves explained.
The inclusion of alternate jurors was made possible under the amended Juries Act, 2025, Section 17 (1) and (2) and 18 (3) (a).
It states that in trials on indictment for murder and treason, the jury panel shall consist of 12 jurors. Subject to Section 36, in trials on indictment for an offence, other than murder or treason, the panel shall consist of nine jurors . . . .
“Notwithstanding Section 17 and subsection (2), where the judge considers, in the interest of justice, that there should be alternate jurors for the trial of the issue, the judge shall indicate the number of alternate jurors required, which shall not exceed three . . . ,” the law further states.
The change has been welcomed by legal practitioners involved in the matter as well as others.
Veteran attorney Andrew Pilgrim, KC, praised the move as a practical step forward. “I think it is a good way to make sure you don’t have delays, because [if] some person gets sick, it is a good way to make sure we have continuity.”
Defence attorney Safiya Moore agreed. “It makes sense to me because we almost always lose a juror. It’s very practical because just the contingencies of life mean that jurors become ill, they have to travel, [they have] family commitments, so it makes sense to have the additional persons who can fill in.”
Senior lawyer and former Cabinet minister Michael Lashley, KC, said the update is long overdue.
He said: “Anything that we believe that can enhance and improve the criminal justice system, I will support, and something like that we have been calling for, for a long time, that would obviously cut out delays and move the case forward.”
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