Chief Justice Zaila McCalla - contributed

A special attempt is now being made to clear the huge backlog of criminal cases which have been cluttering the court system for several years.

The emphasis will be on accused persons who have been languishing in custody.

Lawyers were told of the move earlier this month in a notice issued by Chief Justice Zaila McCalla, with the concurrence of the Supreme Court judges and the bench and bar committee.

"I will have to begin somewhere to deal with the huge backlog of criminal cases," said the Chief Justice, who took over from Lensley Wolfe in June last year.

New cases

The former chief justice spent several weeks in the Gun Court in 2006 trying to clear the backlog and commented then on the large number of new cases which were flooding the court system each week.

McCalla said that, when she took over as head of the judiciary last year, one of the first things she did was to call for an audit of persons in custody. She disclosed that last term a special attempt was made to dispose of several cases in the civil courts.

Judges presiding in circuit courts at the start of each term have always been calling for immediate steps to be taken to clear the backlog.

The Gun Court and the Home Circuit Court have the largest number of cases because there are more adjournments than trials for various reasons.

The Home Circuit Court has more than 100 cases being adjourned term after term while the Gun Court has more than 40 cases each week on the court list for trial but at times less than ten cases are disposed of. The majority of the accused persons appearing in those courts are in custody.

In the notice, dated March 5, 2008, attorneys-at-law were being asked to ascertain if their clients will plead guilty to the offences for which they are charged or to lesser offences.

The notice states that "attorneys-at-law who have clients presently in custody, particularly those who have been in custody for a lengthy period are to indicate to the deputy registrar, criminal division by April 9 if there are any who are desirous of taking a certain course in respect of offences with which they have been charged or lesser offences, so that those cases can be brought forward during the week of April 14, 2008 to be dealt with."