Chief Magistrate irate over continued late arrival of prisoners to her courtroom

The daily commute of prisoners from Her Majesty’s Prison to the Serious Offences Court continues to prove problematic.{{more}}

The problem continued on Wednesday morning when at 10:05 a.m., prisoners, who were supposed to arrive at the court at 9 a.m., were still not present.

And Chief Magistrate Sonya Young warned if the prisoners are not at her court on time from today, she will proceed with matters that are before her and then go home.

“I am prepared to take a good firing, because I know I can get work elsewhere. I don’t understand this. It is ridiculous to have the magistrate wait here until after 10 a.m. for prisoners for what is being called a transportation problem,” Young said.

Prosecutor at the court Inspector Adolphus Delpesche told the court that he has made clear to his superiors on several occasions the problem of transporting prisoners to the court.

According to Delpesche, his interpretation of the Prison Act is that prisoners should be brought to court by prison officers and not police officers.

“I have had many discussions on this point and nobody seems to be putting anything in place to deal with it…,” Delpesche said.