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by pltm
(PLTM) - Governor Gus Jaspert believes that much have been accomplished in the past five months, but there is still a lot of work to be done to bring the judiciary to a fully functional state.
The Governor in his update on the work of the judiciary, post Hurricanes Irma and Maria, said that it was not feasible to conduct High Court hearings of the sitting in its Criminal, Civil and Commercial Jurisdictions in the Territory.
“Following consultations with stakeholders, provisions were therefore made to conduct as many hearings as possible remotely.”
Commercial and Civil Court hearings were conducted in St. Lucia from September to December. The Civil Court also worked via video link from St. Lucia, enabling the disposition of a number of critical cases.
He said that in November, the Court of Appeal was also able to hold its normal scheduled sitting for the Virgin Islands, again from St. Lucia.
“I am incredibly grateful for the support of St. Lucia and the Joint Legal Services Commission for their huge support to enable the continued business of these Courts with minimal interruption,” he said.
Governor Jaspert stated that as they have progressed, and following the return of a number of judges, sittings for the Commercial Court are now taking place at the International Arbitration Centre, ahead of the completion of renovations at the Commercial Court, which are progressing well.
Similarly, full sittings of the Civil Court have recently resumed at Sakal Place.
“And a new High Court Judge is expected to join us in the Virgin Islands later this week, which will allow us to resume consideration of criminal matters in the High Court in the coming weeks.”
He said that he is also pleased that the Court of Appeal is scheduled for the week beginning February26.
Magistrate’s Court (civil, traffic and quasi matters)-February19 at Quastisky Building; Magistrate’s Court (criminal)-February20 at House of Assembly Chambers; Supreme Court (civil matters)-January23 at Sakal Place; Supreme Court (criminal matters case management)-Week of February 19 at Supreme Court; Court of Appeal-February26 to March2 at International Arbitration Centre; and Commercial Court-January10 at International Arbitration Centre.
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