Magistrate Michael Laudat has taken issue with the “backlog of cases and the delay” in persons arrested and charged getting justice.
The public has been calling for persons charged with various offenses to have an expedited hearing.
Speaking again on the matter in open court, where a man presently on remand since 2018 on two sexual offenses, Magistrate Laudat says he is disturbed by the situation.
“A man cannot be charged since 2018 and his PI (preliminary inquiry) is yet to start…all the investigators are doing is producing a file and that is it,” he said.
Laudat a former Inspector of police and retired as a police prosecutor attached to the office of the Director of Public Prosecution expressed his disappointment at the turn of events.
He explained that after the producing of the file, the officer’s work continues to ensure that the matter is dealt with at the magistrate’s court and high court and that the individual gets swift justice.
“Your work ends in the High Court, we need to start to get work done, people are being paid and work is not being done, I am sitting on the Bench, and I have to dispense justice…when someone is in custody for five plus years and his matter is yet to commence that is not justice,” Magistrate Laudat stated visible annoyed and frustrated.
“The system needs to be oiled…too many backlogs of cases we need to do better than that.”
He then set May 22, June 26, and 27, 2023 to have the matter commenced and completed.