As we reported last night, the judges of the Caribbean Court of Justice held a press conference on Saturday in Port of Spain Trinidad.
They were there to familiarize media workers with the workings of the Court - in the hope of creating greater public trust and support in the fledgling institution.
One of the judges - from Curacao - did lend his opinion on the extraordinary, punitive periods of incarcerations spent by some who are on remand for murder.
Hon. Mr. Justice Jacob Wit
"Where I come from Curacao which also part of the Caribbean - any criminal case where an accused is in custody will have to be heard, will have to be tried within 3 months after the arrest. So when I came here and notice that people lingering in prisons for years for example before their cases tried I was shocked and I think we all agree that is something that has to be addressed very severely and we have already criticized several of the courts when they are taking too much time to deliver judgments. It is inconceivable that it takes so much time. So probably that entails a lot of things, you can't blame the judges for everything but it's also about how you deal with cases, how your procedures are etc."
"And as a final court of appeal we have something to say on that. As Lord Bingham says Jerusalem will not be ushered in once the CCJ is the final court of appeal but gradually we will be able to improve that."
Recently in Belize we saw a case where the accused had been on remand for five years.
He was acquitted.
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