Two long-awaited initiatives to be launched by the Supreme Court of Barbados are now being tested.
This disclosure came recently from Chief Justice, Sir Marston Gibson, who stated that several tests of the Prison Video Link and the Vulnerable Witness Programme had been conducted, and the initiatives were still being fine-tuned.
He was at the time speaking during the soft launch of the Supreme Court???s new website at the Court???s White Park, St. Michael, location.
The Chief Justice explained the Prison Video Link allowed proceedings such as bail hearings to occur with the Judge sitting at the Court in Bridgetown and the applicant/prisoner at HMP Dodds.
???The most immediate consequence is the savings to the Government of the expenditure on transporting prisoners from Dodds to the White Park Complex for hearings. The prisoners who will be transported to the Complex are those who need to be there for trials and appeals,??? he pointed out.
Sir Marston further explained that under the Vulnerable Witness Programme, the testimony of witnesses such as victims of domestic violence, sexual offences and witnesses to gang-related activity, would be given through close-circuit television.
???In other words, the witness will be in a safe, sanitised courtroom, other than the courtroom where the trial is occurring, but her image will be seen, and she will testify through the monitors in the trial courtroom,??? he stated.??However, both tests are not yet at the stage of completion, and work is ongoing.
julia.rawlins-bentham@barbados.gov.bb