Mark Beckford, Staff Reporter

The protection of witnesses is being breached by the practice of accused criminals who gain access to sensitive witness information, according to Assistant Commissioner of Police Owen Ellington.

Speaking yesterday at a forum on crime and violence in the workplace, put on by the Jamaica Employers' Federation, Ellington bemoaned this along with the slow pace of the justice system.

"In Jamaica, given our system of justice, we have to turn over witness statements to lawyers for accused persons," Ellington said. They have a trick now where they get a good lawyer to go and apply for bail and they fire that lawyer. (When) they fire the lawyer, the lawyer has to give you the case files. They get the case files, they have the names and addresses of all witnesses and they have 10 years to find them and kill them."

Ellington later told The Gleaner that, while he did not have any empirical evidence of specific cases where a witness had been lost to this practice, a typical day at court could reveal instances whereby witness information is available to the accused.

Not aware of practice

Yesterday, Jacqueline Samuels-Brown, president of the Jamaican Bar Association, said she was not aware of any cases where lawyers who have been dismissed by their clients have handed over witness information to clients for usage.

"The general practice is that it (case files) is handed over to the other counsel who is taking over the case. I find that very strange, but if it was happening, it would be of grave concern," she told The Gleaner.

Samuels-Brown, however, pointed out that, under the Jamaican Constitution, a client has the right to access the case file, but she stressed that details of the witnesses, such as their addresses and numbers, are edited.

Director of Public Prosecutions Paula Llewellyn admitted there were challenges in the system, but said the revelation of sensitive witness information to clients for their usage depended on the integrity of defence lawyers and the instructions they received from their clients.

Due diligence done

Llewellyn said that, under the law, the prosecution was obligated to hand over the relevant documents to the defence. However, due diligence is done to ensure that the addresses and numbers of the witnesses are blotted out. She admitted, though, that there might be lapses when the documents are being copied throughout the system.

Llewellyn called for more cooperation between the defence and prosecution in the island.

"What I would like to see is more evidence from the private bar to meet the prosecution halfway in terms of the practice of criminal law," she said. "I would like to see where the defence is prepared not only to think solely of their clients' interest but be prepared to transcend the narrow interest of their clients to put policy in place to protect the public."

mark.beckford@gleanerjm.com