Basseterre, St. Kitts, July 08, 2020 (SKNIS): The administration of justice in St. Kitts and Nevis will be further improved with the establishment of a third Magistrate Court on St. Kitts.
The new court will be housed in the annex of the Sir Lee Llewellyn Moore Judicial and Legal Complex. The annex is currently under construction at East Independence Square Street adjacent to the legal and judicial complex. The building is scheduled to be completed by the end of September 2020.
“The chamber will assist us in being able to look at such matters as family court matters and traffic court matters,” Attorney General the Honourable Vincent Byron Jr. stated on Tuesday’s (July 07, 2020) edition of the virtual town hall series, Leadership Matters.
Another benefit that is expected from the creation of the third Magistrate Court is an expansion of the hours of operation into the night.
“We expect that as we move into the second term, we can implement … a Night Court and allow those who may have to work in the day … to be able to attend court in the evening after work without having to lose a day’s pay,” the attorney general said.
He added that the matters that will be heard at night would be non-contentious.
There are currently two Magistrate Courts on St. Kitts and one in Nevis.
In March 2017, the government opened a second High Court to relieve the backlog of cases that existed at the time. Attorney General Byron Jr. said that this measure has been extremely useful in expediting the dispensation of justice.
