And while the police continue to fight crime, what will happen when criminals are sent to court since there is a shortage of Magistrates? According to reports, for years, areas like Punta Gorda, San Ignacio and Independence Village have been without permanent Magistrates. Seven Magistrates in Belize City have had to be posted in areas outside the district for court hearings. This has led to cases being delayed which only hurt the chances of victims receiving justice. ComPol spoke on the matter today.
Chester Williams - Commissioner of Police
"You know there's the saying that justice delayed is justice denied and we see that cases are not being tried in a timely manner, we know that we have the criminals practice and procedures rule which was implemented couple years ago under the former Chief Justice where timeline were set for trials to be done and for sure the courts have not been able to keep up with the provision of that rule and again, when cases are delayed to be tried, we find for the most part the victims do not want to come to court anymore so the saying is true that when justice is delayed, it is denied, so we're hoping that the matter will rectify very soon and the magistrate will be staffed and we will be able to prosecute these cases in a more timely manner."
