Gilhuys absence causing much inconvenience at court

Jul 21, 2008 News

With there being no official word as to whether or not Magistrate Gordon Gilhuys is still a sitting magistrate, there remains a delay in the administration of justice for several prisoners on remand.
Since the magistrate was involved in a shooting incident on June 26 he has not set foot back in his court to preside over matters which are currently before his court.
The shooting incident has left police corporal Mark George nursing at least two gunshot wounds. He remains hospitalised. Meanwhile, at the magistrates court, the issue of Gilhuys not presiding is further adding to the backlog of cases and the remand prison population.
Over recent weeks, all prisoners on remand who have pending cases before Magistrate Gilhuys were merely given an opportunity to appear before another magistrate and given further dates for their cases. This is to the dissatisfaction of both the prisoners and their lawyers.
However, one short-term measure has been put in place to remedy the situation. Only last week Magistrate Nigel Hawk, who is presiding at the Providence Magistrate’s court, has been filling the slot for Magistrate Gilhuys. However, according to many dissatisfied lawyers and prisoners, that is not sufficient, since that magistrate only sits on the bench for about two hours in the mornings.
Defence counsel Mark Waldron recently expressed his disgust over the situation when an arrest warrant was issued for his client.
Waldron, during last week, was forced to approach Acting Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson-Ogle to have an arrest warrant which was issued for his client withdrawn.
Waldron had explained to the magistrate that his client was present for his court appearance but there was no magistrate in the court room. After not seeing anyone in the court, Waldron and his client decided to leave with the intention of getting a new court date from the court clerk.
However, later the same morning, Magistrate Nigel Hawk showed up and the case involving Waldron’s client was called, by which time he had left, since he was not told that a magistrate would be coming later in the morning. Magistrate Hawk then issued an arrest warrant for Waldron’s client.
Waldron believes that, at the very least, a notice should have been posted stating that Magistrate Hawk would be sitting in Magistrate Gilhuys’s absence.
Prisoners who are brought to court and given further dates have also voiced their concern on the issue, stating that the system is being unfair to them since most of them have been on remand for a very long time.

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Gilhuys absence causing much inconvenience at court

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