By LAMECH JOHNSON
Tribune Staff Reporter
ljohnson@tribunemedia.net
THE establishment of a Family Court is still in the planning stage, Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson said yesterday.
Mrs Maynard-Gibson told The Tribune at a special sitting of the Court of Appeal, that it is now intended that the court be in the Rodney Bain building instead of the Town Centre Mall.
However, sources close to the development told this newspaper that the envisioned Family Court, which had been endorsed by Chief Justice Sir Michael Barnett in January 2013, “has been put to bed because crime is out of control”.
The sources also contend that all hands were needed on deck for the additional criminal courts set to open next year.
“We’ve had to face the reality of limited resources and ministries competing for the limited resources,” the attorney general explained.
“So I want to thank those who are on the committee, those who continue to design the building that was fitted for a Family Court and those who are writing the processes, the rules etc, that will enable the court to function when we are able to allocate the resources, in terms of money, to enable that court to open.”
The court was ultimately expected to help alleviate some of the stress on the Magistrate’s Court, deal with family matters in an expeditious manner, and create a relaxed environment for families attending court.
The envisioned court complex is planned to house a number of facilities, including three courtrooms for magistrates, two courtrooms for Supreme Court judges, a registry for Family Court, and a section for resident officers of Social Services, among other things.
One of the three locations the Family Courts System Committee reported as the most viable option was the Town Centre Mall because of the availability of parking space, access to public transport, access to banks, internal and external security measures in the form of a nearby police station.
In December 2012, at the announcement of the plan to establish the Family Court, it was revealed that more than 3,000 family cases were heard in the Magistrates Court that year, not including the criminal matters that the magistrates presided over.
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