A High Court judge has voiced concern about the slow pace of some proceedings due to defence attorneys’ unavailability, as they are engaged in other matters.
“I don’t know what more we are expected to do when we have, according to you all, so few defence counsel at the Bar dealing with these serious matters, and they cannot be everywhere at every time, but still, I think we should give priority to certain matters,” said Justice Pamela Beckles.
The comments came after attorney Sian Lange, who was holding a watching brief on behalf of the late Pablo Kinch’s family, told the court that her clients were dismayed by how long it was taking for the case to be heard.
“This is a matter that, because of the unique nature of it — a soldier killed in a police station while on duty — (my clients) feel as though this should have been a matter that would be given a certain amount of priority,” the attorney said.
Kinch, 26, a lance corporal of the Barbados Defence Force, died on the compound of the District ‘A’ Police Station after being shot on April 6, 2020.
Fellow soldier Renico Amal Grandison of Proute Hill, St Thomas, is accused of unlawfully killing him.
During Grandison’s appearance in the No. 5 Supreme Court on Monday, the court indicated it did not have a file for the case before hearing that his attorney was engaged in a trial in another courtroom. New dates were set for February 2, 2026, with an alternate of March 4 to begin the manslaughter trial.
However, Lange stated, “Trial dates have been set before and have had to be vacated for various reasons, and they have asked me today in particular, to express to the court their deep desire to have this matter done, so it could bring some closure to them,” noting that the prosecution has previously expressed its readiness to proceed to trial.
Justice Beckles responded: “I would put on the record that I totally agree with you. I would like all matters to be dealt with in haste, but somehow it is not happening. And it is not happening not because the court is not here, not because the prosecutor is not here, but it usually is not happening because the defence counsel is not here. They are engaged in other courts. They cannot be here for whatever reason.”
Justice Beckles added: “I am just as frustrated if not more frustrated than them at the pace at which things are going. Look, it is not even 12 o’clock, and we are wrapping up because there is nothing to do.”
“Cases are set, but the attorneys are elsewhere. How can we proceed if the attorneys that we want are engaged in trials elsewhere? You cannot tell people which attorneys to choose. We can’t proceed with cases with the attorneys absent. I am distressed too, that these matters are taking so long. I say this all the time, so let’s hope that something will improve in the future.”
Saying she was indicating that the matter should be seen as a priority, Justice Beckles said: “Let those who have ears to hear, hear, and that on the next occasion we do have a file that we can proceed.”
The judge also noted that whilst priority was being placed on dealing with cases such as murder, it was equally important, in her view, to deal with rape cases before too much time had passed, noting that some complainants, who were children when the incident allegedly occurred, were coming to court as adults.
She said: “Yes, we have decided that there are certain matters that are priority, like murders and manslaughter. I don’t personally hold onto the fact that the most serious matters are murders. I think people with sexual offences (cases) have a right to expect the trial to be heard in a reasonable time.”
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