Some magistrates abuse power; lack discretion - Wheatley
The comments were made against the backdrop of a discussion surrounding the pending introduction of legislation in the House of Assembly dubbed the Status of Children Act (2013).
Speaking on the Umoja radio show on October 10, 2013, Natalio Wheatley aka Sowande Uhuru explained that the issue of child support is a society-wide problem that goes beyond simply trying to put persons in jail as it is obvious that some persons are having economic hardships.
“You don’t want to just create a situation where perhaps a woman and a man are not together and the woman might be upset at him for whatever reason and tries to get him locked in jail when she knows that he is going through a difficult economic time,” Wheatley said.
The talk show host related that while he did feel magistrates should have the power to dock the pay of both men and women, some of them abused their powers. “Some of them [magistrates], in my opinion, they abuse their power and they don’t use their discretion well. I’ve had personal experiences with magistrates who said things, in my opinion, that were absolutely obnoxious.”
Wheatley added that there were certain things related in a court room to him by magistrates that were completely insensitive and lacking respect, “so some of the magistrates as well, with the discretion they have, I don’t think they use it well.”
Host, Cromwell Smith aka Edju En Ka declared that it could almost be said that some female magistrates have what can be described as a subconscious or conscious subjective view when it came to the administration of the law.
“A lot of them, from my standpoint, seem biased against men and take decisions that are biased against men…” Wheatley added, “they have preconceived notions.”
Smith said magistrates just don’t care what defence you have or what circumstances you have, “you’re just a bad person because you’re trying to get a fair deal, you want to have fair access to your children and you want to be able to pay a fair share of their support. You don’t want to have to be taken advantage of because you are the man and you are supposed to provide either.”
He called for a level of fairness in the administration of justice that relies on factual information.
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19 Responses to “Some magistrates abuse power; lack discretion - Wheatley”
That's hitting the nail on the head because some don't get a fair trail because maybe of their last names and so on.
What happen to the men who take care of their child/children and the women do nothing? The system is so £%%^ onfair it's not funny.