‘Time to improve facilities @ the Courts!’ – Doug Wheatley
He was speaking on his radio show ‘Speak Out BVI’ heard on ZBVI 780 AM last week Tuesday October 28, 2014.
“I am saying this and I am hoping that it will get to the ears of persons who are in a position to do something about it and perhaps we might start a discussion as how we might improve the facilities physical and otherwise, of the Magistrate’s Court,” he said.
He spoke of an instance where he and other persons were made to wait hours upon hours in the most uncomfortable of accommodations before their cases came up.
“Perhaps through no fault of the Magistrate they probably had a full agenda in the docket and they were just really busy all day long and they just couldn’t succeed in dispensing with those matters until almost 5 pm and then they were able to call others in to have their matters handled,” he said.
“But in the meantime you find yourself sitting around on the outside of the Magistrate’s Court, you find a rock or a block that you can sit on and find an area of shade. It is kind of an awkward situation to be doing that for several hours as you wait for your matter to be heard,” he said.
“So I think a civil survey of our courts will be in order so that we can really pinpoint some of the difficulties we have been having. Perhaps we need to spend some more money to enlarge the building or improve seating or shelter,” he said.
He said too that sometimes persons have difficulty accessing the toilet facilities during their wait which would sometimes span hours on end. To make matters worse, persons are not allowed to have reading material to pass the time. According to Wheatley, they are asked to put away such material when in the court.
“If I’m in the Magistrate’s Court and there is nothing much happening, I might want to take out my newspaper and catch up with the news. But in fact you’re not allowed to do this…a Police Officer would approach you and tell you that you cannot be reading or making notes in here,” said Wheatley.
“Perhaps it is time to do something to make the situation much better. I have listened to many, many persons talk about this…even when you’re inside the seating is very limited and there is nothing much you can do,” he said.
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