Latest update April 18th, 2025 8:12 AM
Court sessions shifted to community centre
… Christianburg courthouse fire
With smoke still emanating from the rubble, all that remains of the Christianburg Courthouse in Linden, in the wake of Tuesday’s devastating fire presents a picture of utter destruction,.
Staff of the Linden Legal Aid centre, which was housed at the facility, yesterday visited the scene and looked in vain for at least one item to salvage from the blackened ruins. They were disappointed.
Prior to visiting the site with her two colleagues, Office Manager and Legal Clerk Cherill Sears, said that they were hoping against hope that they would at least be able to salvage something from the debris.
Legal Aid manager Cherill Sears with water bottle in hand, with colleagues watch the ruins
“I’m hurting right now, but mostly for the people in Linden who couldn’t afford a commercial lawyer.
“Our door was always open to them, and there are a lot of people still out there, so I’m hoping that we can get a new office so that we can pick up the pieces, and continue our work,” Sears pointed out during a brief interview yesterday.
Both Sears and her colleagues lamented the utter destruction of everything they had worked so hard to achieve.
“We couldn’t even save a pin, is everything gone, we don’t have anything left,” Sears added.
Questioned about how she was able to function in court over the past two days, she pointed out that fortunately she had retained a lot of the information on many of the clients’ cases in her head, so that when the lawyers called the cases she was able to respond appropriately.
There was not as good a turnout as usual. She however noted that many of the legal aid clients might not have known of the alternative arrangements subsequent to the fire.
Sears pointed out that more than 100 persons in and around Linden would access the services they provide per month and that those services are either provided free of charge or at a subsidized cost. Pensioners and children enjoy the facility free of cost.
Both Sears and her two colleagues, Rhonda Coppin and Romain Ross, stressed that the relevant persons in authority should come to the assistance of the Legal Aid in Linden, and help them to reestablish a new office to enable them to render a service they consider of critical importance to the community.
Meanwhile court sessions were conducted at the Christianburg Community Centre on Tuesday and Wednesday. This was arranged after the fire.
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