Attorney General Leslie Mondesir, speaking in the House of Parliament on Tuesday, made a compelling case for the introduction of judge-alone trials as part of ongoing efforts to modernize the country’s judicial system and reduce case backlog.

He noted that many countries already utilize the system and underscored its suitability for high-profile, serious, and complex cases.

“Judge alone trials would be suited for certain types of cases. You may have a high profile case, a serious case, a serious murder trial, or a long and complex case which involves technical evidence. You may have a case which engenders pre-trial publicity; graphic evidence may be led in a trial; you may have allegations of intimidation or threat to jurors or bias. So you may want to have judge-alone trial,” AG Mondesir said.

Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister with responsibility for Housing and Local Government, Hon. Richard Frederick, criticized the slow course of justice. He explained that justice delayed is justice denied.

“The hurdles that our legal system is inundated with prevents expeditious hearings and leaves persons incarcerated. Sometimes the longevity that it takes to dispense justice, that in itself is an injustice. So I welcome this Bill,” Monister Frederick explained.

According to the bill presented, the defendant has the right to choose a judge-alone trial, while the Prosecution, under certain conditions, can also apply to the court for such a trial. Judges would be required to provide written judgments within 24 hours of their decisions, detailing their reasoning and findings.