By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

THE government has again missed its deadline to have all of the additional criminal courts complete with Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson confirming a new deadline of March.

Officials had previously said the new courts would be fully operational by last month.

Mrs Maynard-Gibson yesterday told reporters that two criminal courts of ten remain incomplete.

“There are now eight criminal courts sitting,” she said, “which means that two in Bank Lane are operating and I am hoping that the new chief justice will agree that the other two can open in March which means that as of March there will be ten courts sitting.”

She spoke after a swearing in ceremony at Government House for new Chief Justice Hartman Longley.

In December Mrs Maynard-Gibson told The Tribune that the courts would be fully functional for the start of the new legal year in January.

At the time she said: “The reason for that is December 15, around there, the court will adjourn for the Christmas holidays and the new session will start with the opening of the new legal year in January.

“I’m satisfied that at that time, it is expected that we will see trials held in that building. The good news is that the building is open right now. There are two judges that are operating out of the building, Justices Roger Gomez and Ian Winder.”

The new criminal courts were first expected to be open in January 2014.

The delay of the court openings comes as the attorney general expressed optimism that the government would successfully handle the backlog of cases that currently plague the judicial system.

As it stands, the backlog rests at around 600 cases, Mrs Maynard-Gibson said.

She said: “There are several means by which they are being decreased some have been outstanding for over ten years and we are finding that in many of them, most have been sexual offences, the victims have moved on with their lives and many of them do not wish to participate in any proceeding because they have moved on. So in those circumstances nolles have been entered.

“They are also being dealt with by assuring that the virtual complainants do wish to proceed if the files are properly prepared. We are asking the court to advance those matters so that they can be set down having been outstanding for so long.

“So we are satisfied that things are moving in the right direction.”

The attorney general said that in 2014, twice as many matters were heard before the courts than the year before. She added that the time it took to be heard in a court was also decreasing, signalling advancements in the Bahamas’ court system.