The Tribune

By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS

Tribune Staff Reporter

lmunnings@tribunemedia.net

DIRECTOR of Public Prosecutions Cordell Frazier has played down the impact of a two-day power disruption at several downtown court facilities, saying it caused inconvenience but did not significantly interfere with the administration of justice because the main Supreme Court building remained operational.

Her assessment contrasts with concerns raised by the Bahamas Bar Association, which said the closure of court facilities and adjournment of matters had “materially” compromised the administration of justice and warned that prolonged disruptions could jeopardise citizens’ right to have cases heard in a timely manner.

Ms Frazier said yesterday that proceedings continued at the main Supreme Court building, which was unaffected by the outage, while the disruption was confined to Ansbacher House and adjoining courthouses.

“The delay of two days, although an inconvenience, was not detrimental as there was no emergency application and everything is back up now,” Ms Frazier said.

The disruption followed a prolonged power outage in the downtown area that reportedly began on Friday and eventually exhausted the backup generator system serving affected court facilities.

The Supreme Court was forced to close affected facilities on Tuesday after one of the main generators repeatedly failed.

The Bahamas Bar Association subsequently criticised the disruption, saying litigants and witnesses had been turned away and court matters adjourned.

The association warned that prolonged closures could undermine access to justice by preventing citizens from having their matters heard and resolved within a reasonable time.

A senior judiciary official previously told The Tribune that power was lost at about 4pm on Friday and that no information was received from Bahamas Power and Light about how long the outage was expected to continue.

The generators therefore continued running throughout the weekend and had exhausted their fuel by Monday morning.

After they were refuelled, one of the main units developed damaged seals after operating continuously and repeatedly failed on Tuesday, forcing the affected court facilities to close while technicians carried out repairs.

The disruption was not confined to the courts.

The Industrial Tribunal also lost power on Monday, although electricity was restored there the following morning.

BPL said the outage affecting the Bank Lane area was caused by a cable fault near Rawson Square that Bahamas Grid Company technicians identified early Tuesday morning.

The utility said crews were working to repair the fault and expected electricity to be restored by or before 1am Wednesday.

The episode came amid repeated power disruptions across New Providence in recent weeks, including an island-wide blackout following a transformer explosion at Blue Hills and prolonged outages affecting western communities.

BPL has attributed recent disruptions to several causes, including cable faults, overloaded transformers, tripped feeders and breakers, damaged power lines, fires and high demand.