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WITH A CHILD’S HEART

Nov 20, 2009 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

Over the past weeks we have had some very troubling news concerning our women folk. One young woman reportedly jumped into the Kaieteur Gorge; another was said to have shot herself, while a third was found hanging in a room. And just yesterday we read about the terrible chopping of a woman from Eccles.
All of these things would obviously raise concerns, deep concerns about what is taking place within our society and by extension, about the way these issues are treated within the media. They are legitimate concerns.
During a conversation among a group of friends, this column was shockingly accused of being male- centered and not paying sufficient attention to women’s issues.
It was said that the topics that the Peeper deals with do not consider the problems faced by women.
It is however never the topics that result in greater sensitivity towards women, but rather the theme which invariably excludes perspectives which some may wish to see addressed.
Take for example the troubling attack on a local magistrate which was reported in yesterday’s edition of this newspaper. Once can write numerous columns on this one incident: one can write about the brazenness of the attack; the fact that magistrates are now becoming victims of what seems to be deliberate criminal attacks, something that would not have occurred in the past; one can deal with the police response or for that matter the security arrangement in place to protect judicial officials; or one can choose as one’s theme the fact that the magistrate has to travel such long distances to go home or even that her baby has to be kept in the vehicle while she is on the bench.
The latter, I suspect will yield a perspective that would be seen as being more human interest and having to touch on the difficulties that professional mothers have to face.
This column deplores the attack on the magistrate which, from what has been reported, seems to have been a premeditated assault on an officer of the Court. This column hopes that those responsible for this crime would be brought to justice, but this column would never suggest that simply because of this attack, the judicial authorities should retract on their well-intentioned decision to rotate magistrates in various magisterial districts, regardless of how far any magistrate has to travel to and from home each day.
Obviously, this particular magistrate faces difficulties in relation to the feeding of her child and in the long distances to get home each day. But those difficulties should in no way force the authorities to backpedal and place magistrates in courts near to where they live.
Any person holding a public office must be prepared to work outside the area in which he or she resides because often these decisions about staff rotation are done in the wider interest of justice and can even benefit the person concerned in terms of experience.
Obviously there are human considerations involved, especially when children are part of the equation. In this particular instance we are told that the child of the magistrate has to be in the vehicle while the magistrate is on the bench since the child needs to be breast fed. I am sure that if approached the Judicial Service Commission would consider such special needs and try to accommodate changes, but certainly this would not be a long term arrangement since it would disrupt the rotation process.
This column would therefore hope that the relevant authorities would make an assessment of this individual case and determine whether there needs to be a change in policy. It is certainly not a healthy development when a senior member of the bench has to have their child sleeping in the car while working just to be able to breast feed the child.
What can happen is that the authorities can, considering any special circumstances which may exist in this case, consider making available a more comfortable environment for the child to be in while awaiting its feeding. In this way, there will be no need to transfer the magistrate back to where she lives.
The benefits of rotation for magistrates must not be understated. There is a need for this rotation. Those who take on jobs as members of the bench must expect that there will be times when they will have to make the necessary sacrifices.
At the same time, the system must be flexible enough to cater for special circumstances. No system must be so cast in stone that it does not allow for exceptions and humane considerations.

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