BY INGRID BROWN

Associate Editor — Special Assignment

browni@jamaicaobserver.com

RESIDENTS of Cedar

Valley and surrounding communities in St Thomas have blamed deplorable road conditions for the closure of the Cedar Valley Courthouse which has remained shuttered for more than five years.

According to the residents, the facility was abandoned after resident magistrates refused to make the tiresome journey on the road, which resembles a river bed in many parts.

Morant Bay Mayor Marsha Francis has joined the residents in lamenting the closure of the courthouse which has forced both the citizens and the police to travel for miles to attend court in either Morant Bay or Yallahs.

“Such a lovely facility is just there locked up and it’s all because of the condition of the road,” Francis told the Jamaica Observer North East.

Justice Minister Mark Golding told the Observer North East that he was aware of the closure of the facility, but couldn’t say what caused it.

Golding noted however that the courthouse was closed before he took office in 2012.

He agreed, however, that the bad road condition could have also contributed to the closure.

“If the roads are bad this will impact people going there and this would include witnesses, court staff, and magistrates because we want to provide court facilities that are accessible,” he said, adding that compromised security could definitely have been a factor.

According to Golding, the facility will remain closed as the cost of operating the Cedar Valley Courthouse when there are two other courts adequately serving the parish, have since been taken into consideration.

“We have a new facility in Morant Bay and one in Yallahs and so there are no plans at the moment to operate a third outstation,” he said.

He was, however, unable to say what other use the building will be put to, or whether it was costing

tax payers to have it locked up.

“It all depends on who owns the building, because some of them are owned by the parish council which have a role in maintaining them and the ministry helps, but I can’t speak to the ownership of this as I do not have that information with me just now,” said Golding, who was out of office when the Observer North East spoke with him.

Meanwhile, the residents say with very few operators of public passenger motor vehicles on the route, they have great difficulty getting in and out of the community when they have to attend court.

“That was one of the best courthouse inna Jamaica and it was closed a couple years ago because di judge dem say dem not travelling back on dat road to come up here,” said a resident, Yvette Bess, who added the closure has affected them deeply.

“Now people haffi go all the way to Yallahs and them have the pretty courthouse up dere a waste,” added fellow resident Andrea Mills.

The residents say they have to pay $200 in taxi fare to get to Morant Bay and an additional $150 to Yallahs when they have certain types of matters that are not dealt with in the parish capital.

The police say they, too, have been inconvenienced by the closure of the courthouse because of the condition of the road.

A policeman who spoke on condition of anonymity explained that not all matters are dealt with at the Morant Bay Courthouse, resulting in their having to go to Yallahs in some instances. This, as all matters relating to children and traffic are dealt with at that courthouse.

The cop said although the Cedar Valley Courthouse was already closed when he was transferred to the community, he was told that its closure was because of the bad roads which were compromising the judges’ safety.

“The condition of the road even hampers our policing activities and so I can see why the judge wouldn’t want to come,” he said.

The building which shares the same premises as the Cedar Valley Police Station was constructed sometime in the 1800s but is still said to be structurally sound.

“Nothing no wrong with the building. It is just there locked up and is only sometimes they have a community farmers meeting there,” the policeman said.