Judicial Administration

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: Monday 16 October 2006
Contact: Bina Mani
Direct line: (345) 244-1758
Tel: (345) 949-8092
Fax: (345) 949-5936, 946-0664
E-mail address: Bina.Mani@gov.ky
Official Government Website: www.gov.ky

Design Works Begin on New Summary Courts Complex

Concrete steps are underway on a new Summary Court and Family Court complex as part of an expansion project to ease space constraints Courts now face on a daily basis.

The Summary Court divisions and the Family Court, which is to be newly established, will be housed in two separate sections of a building at a new location. They will be located on site in the Half-Way Pond area of George Town, between Smith Road and Lyndhurst Road (across from Jose’s gas station) on Crown property.

Design works on the two projects have already begun, the Chief Justice, the Hon. Anthony Smellie, QC, said.

After the move, the present Courts building will house only the Grand Courts and the Appeals Court. “The volume of business of the Courts has long out stripped the size of the single Court building in Central George Town which was built nearly 40 years ago,” the Chief Justice stated.

“The plan is to relocate the Summary Court in its several divisions and to develop the new Family Court at a location that will be more convenient to the public and which will provide the needed space, technology and ancillary facilities for well into the future,” he elaborated.

Care will be taken in the building design and specifications of the new purpose-built facility to ensure that noise from aircraft flying in and out of Owen Robert’s International Airport nearby will pose no disturbance to court proceedings.

The new complex will house all six divisions of the Summary Court which are:

  • The civil division - this small claims court will follow special rules for the timely and cost-effective disposal of claims up to $20,000 that litigants can make in person to the court;
  • The criminal division – this will deal with the disposal of criminal charges before the Summary Court and committal proceedings for indictable offences up to the Grand Court;
  • A traffic division;
  • The Youth Court division - to deal with young offenders in cases forwarded from the Family Court;
  • The Coroner’s Court – to deal with fatality cases and determine responsibility for those fatalities; and
  • The Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation Court – a facility that will put into practice the provisions of a newly enacted law.

The new Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation Court will stress treatment and rehabilitation of offenders as its primary approach. A plan of implementation for this new programme is in the process of being developed through the Courts and the National Drug Council. It will also involve all the other relevant government agencies as well as the private sector, according to the Chief Justice’s office.

Training workshops are envisaged to enable the implementation of the programme. The next is planned for early 2007 in Grand Cayman.

“A great deal of research was undertaken before the decision to establish the Court through legislation. This research pointed to the success of similar programmes in other jurisdictions including Canada, the United States, Scotland and Jamaica,” the Chief Justice, said. A pilot project initiated since 1999 by the local Courts and spearheaded by Magistrate Ramsay-Hale has “already shown signs of success and points to the real potential of a fully developed programme through which the Courts, the social services, medical, psychiatric and psychological treatment providers can most effectively work together to ensure delivery and compliance.”

The Family Court: Housed in a separate purpose-built facility, the Family Court will deal with all family or child-care cases in a more holistic, less adversarial and expeditious manner. It will take a child-centred approach and will stress the need to ensure that no party has an advantage over the other, especially in custody or divorce proceedings. The court will emphasise alternative dispute resolution through negotiations or mediation; and the effective involvement of social workers and other professional care givers, “including by the fostering of communication and co-operation between parents and others with regard to the parenting of the child,” according to the Courts office.

(GIS)

Caption:

The site map marked in red shows the location of the new Summary Courts complex bounded on three sides by Smith Road, Lyndhurst Avenue and Agnes Way that links Smith Road to the Linford Pierson Highway next to Jose’s Esso.