A smoke-blackened section of the Port Antonio courthouse, the scene of an early morning fire yesterday that left $4 million in damage and destroyed almost 80 per cent of the records for recent court cases. (Photo: Everard Owen)

Port Antonio, Portland - Firefighters suspect arson is the cause of yesterday morning's fire at the Port Antonio courthouse that left $4 million in damage to the heritage site and destroyed almost 80 per cent of recent case records.

The fire, said the justice ministry's senior public relations officer, Michael Cohen, had pushed the ministry to step up its efforts to address the issue of the storage of court records.

"We are looking at alternative, undisclosed sites (away from the island's courthouses)," he said.

The issue of keeping court records safe was raised after the March 11 fire that damaged the courthouse in Spanish Town's historic Emancipation Square. The roof had caved in but firefighters, though hampered by a lack of functional fire hydrants, managed to save the section of the building where cases were tried.

A charred section of the first-floor roof of the Port Antonio courthouse. (Photo: Everard Owen)

The issue was again raised when it became public knowledge that vital information needed for the Janice Allen case had been destroyed during a fire at the Denham Town Police Station. The lost files resulted in the state dropping its prosecution of former police constable Rohan Allen, who had been charged with the 13 year-old girl's murder.

Yesterday, Cohen was unable to give a timeline for when court records would be stored off-property.

"We are looking at the costing right now so we can have it approved and implemented," he said. "The Ministry of Justice just can't give a timeline (for implementation) but the proposal will be ready very, very soon."

Up to late yesterday, the ministry had still not decided where today's cases that had been scheduled for the Port Antonio courthouse would be heard.

"The property manager is now looking at the possibility of immediately upgrading or repairing a town hall in Buff Bay," said Cohen.

Yesterday's early-morning fire was confined to the records office on the first floor, said district officer at the Port Antonio fire department, Everol Brown, who led the team that responded to the 2:24 am call.

"The filing room is okay, but 75 to 80 per cent of the documents used in recent cases were burnt. We suspect arson, based on our forensic tests. An accelerant was used to start the fire."

The courthouse, which the Jamaica National Heritage Trust (JNHT) yesterday confirmed was a declared heritage site, is a key component of billionaire banker Michael Lee Chin's plans to develop Port Antonio.

Under the plan, the building is to be restored while remaining true to its original architectural style. A branch of Lee Chin's National Commercial Bank will be on the ground floor, while the second floor will be a museum.

Any work done, including the repairs that will have to be done as a result of yesterday's fire, has to get the nod from the JNHT.

Early yesterday morning, members of the legal fraternity gathered to survey the damage done to the building's roof and ground floor passageway; a few charred blocks lay on the floor.

The building also houses the Portland Chamber of Commerce, but except for slight charring of the chamber's main door, there was no damage to that section of the courthouse.

"The inside of the chamber's office is okay," said fire investigator, Acting Superintendent Fitzroy Rowe.

Up to press time last night, firefighters had no suspects and no motive for the suspicious fire which shot thick, black smoke into the sky before it was contained by Port Antonio firemen who responded in a single unit. They managed to contain the blaze within half-an-hour without the help of firefighters from Buff Bay, whom they had routinely called as back-up.

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