KINGSTON, Jamaica — A total of 620 cases are scheduled to be heard in the new Hilary Term of the Home Circuit Court, a task head of the Jamaica Bar Association, Sheryl McGregor, has labelled as “impossible”.

“… We have 600 and odd cases, four courts and less than 100 days in the term. If my calculation is correct, that would require us to complete six cases per day if we are to complete the list. It is impossible,” McGregor said at this morning’s opening ceremony of the Hilary Session.

The 620 cases represent an 18 per cent increase over last year, and include 359 murder cases as well as 219 sexual offences.

Statistics released by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) showed 522 cases were booked for trial at the start of the Hilary Term in 2016.

However, of the overall number of cases in the new term, 476 cases were brought over from the Michaelmas Term, where only 60 of a total of 536 cases were disposed of, while 144 new cases were added to the list.

The unfinished cases represent a 1.6 per cent increase over the same period in 2016, while the new cases represent a 793.75 per cent increase over the corresponding 2016 Hilary Term where only 16 new cases were added.

One hundred and fourteen new sexual cases have been added to the caseload for the Hilary Term while 298 of the murder cases are from last term, and 14 are new.

One hundred and five sexual cases, which were not completed from the last term, were brought over — it included 61 rape and 15 indecent assault cases.

Meanwhile, DPP Paula Llewellyn blamed the Committal Proceedings Act for adding to the growing backlog, as more cases were coming before the court for trial although they are not yet in a state of readiness.

She said that if more committal cases are submitted without the proper vetting it would result in a “tsunami of cases” being placed before the circuit courts.

Tanesha Mundle