Word reaching our news centre from attorneys and residents affected is that Senior Magistrate Tamia N. Richards fell and broke her fibula (calf bone) last week and cases before her have since been adjourned to 2025. Photo: VINO/File

Magistrate Tamia N. Richards reportedly fell and broke her fibula. Photo: Internet Source

Attorneys and residents affected are concerned that court cases they are involved in have been adjourned to 2025 because Senior Magistrate Tamia N. Richards has a broken leg. Photo: opiniojuris.org

Details of how and where it happened were not immediately available at publication time; however, it is believed she had to be taken to Dr D Orlando Smith Hospital for medical care, according to a family member speaking to our newsroom on condition of anonymity.

Justice delayed is justice denied

However, two Attorneys and four residents with matters before Ms Richards told our newsroom that while they wished her a “speedy recovery and wished her well” they were very disappointed that all her cases and rulings are now adjourned until 2025, leaving many persons with delayed justice.

It is unclear if there are any other Magistrates available to take up her cases or even read her rulings. Residents continue to frequently complain, with no remedy in sight about the Judicial System and how often cases are adjourned because the Crown is not ready to proceed, they can’t find witnesses or police reports, or a Judge or Magistrate is out sick.

Only the clients (victims & the accused) suffer

It has cost residents thousands of dollars in attorney fees for flying in lawyers for what would usually turn out to be adjourned court cases. The same is true for residents who may have relocated overseas and have to spend huge sums flying in only to be told on the day of the case that the matter has been adjourned at the request, most often, of the state prosecution.

The one-man Commission of Inquiry (CoI) headed by a British national held a few years ago did not address the blatant injustice in the Legal and Judicial System where, for example, there are persons on remand at His Majesty’s Prison in Balsam Ghut on the main Island of Tortola for well over five years. Additionally, under the Virgin Islands legal system, the average civil and criminal matter takes up to five years to be concluded, even without adding in the appeal time.

Many believe the alleged corrupt and rotten judicial system was not addressed in the CoI because the courts and legal system are the portfolios of a British-appointed Governor.