Technological upgrade for Magistrates’ court

Sep 09, 2021 News

– Statements to be typed not written

Kaieteur News – Over the years, technology advancements have been playing an important role in different sectors. As such, Attorney General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, S.C., recently revealed that the Magistracy will soon receive an upgrade in which a voice recording system will be installed to translate witnesses’ (voice) evidence to text.

Attorney General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall.

This new upgrade will eliminate the longhand notes that Magistrates’ usually take when evidence is being given to the court. The AG, made that disclosure on a Globespan interview on August 30, 2021.
In fact, the AG stated that, that system is already in place in the three High Courts – Demerara, Essequibo and Berbice. He noted too that the system is also in place at the Court of Appeal. “In my last stint as Attorney General, I had commenced a programme whereby we equipped a number of courts in the High Court and Court of Appeal with automated voice recording system,” Minister Nandlall stated.
According to the AG, the system that is already in place takes the voice recording from the court, and within hours a written script is available for a small fee. To this end, he noted that the same will be done in the Magistrates Courts across the country.
Moreover, he disclosed that he had recently met with the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Shalimar Ali-Hack, S.C.; Commissioner of Police, Nigel Hippie, among others, to discuss a new initiative he has undertaken. The initiative he referenced is one where an Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) funded programme will equip the police stations with the requisite hardware, so that the prosecution statements that must be handed over to the defence in criminal trials will no longer be handwritten, but typewritten.
“This is a big initiative. I have to put computers, typists, and printers in all the police stations across the country, so that statements are in print and not in police handwriting, where you have difficulties in reading,” the AG further stated.

Discover more from Kaieteur News

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Latest News