CBA president says Western Regional Gun Court overwhelmed with cases
MONTEGO BAY, St James — President of the Cornwall Bar Association (CBA), Lambert Johnson says the Western Regional Gun Court in St James is overburdened with gun-related cases, resulting in matters before that court taking more than a year before being set for trial.
Johnson made the disclosure last week during his address at the annual Cornwall College homecoming week lecture at the Montego Bay-based school.
“When the gun court was established about 10 years ago, you would get a case completed within six weeks, and we thought we were doing well and setting the standard. But as of this year, when you get a matter in the gun Court it is now set for trial in 2021 or at the end of 2020. So, you can see the prevalence of guns and the offences — and the havoc that it reaps have caused the court to be stretched,” Johnson argued.
In the past, gun-related matters were tried in the circuit court only. However, Johnson said the number of cases had become numerous, hence the setting up of the Western Regional Gun Court.
The CBA president also suggested that people connected with politicians have caused the country “to be inundated with crime and shootings”.
“So immediately, the challenge becomes apparent. Persons send guns back in barrels, they send it back in containers, and there are urban legends — because I can say no more than that — that there are persons [who,] because of their connections with [a] government, are able to import guns at will and persons in authority would turn a blind eye. And so, what this has done is that it has caused our country to be inundated with crime and shootings,” said Johnson.
He expressed concern that 99 per cent of people who end up before the criminal court, the gun court in particular, are young men between the ages of 18 and 25. On the flip side, he said, at the university level, in particular the faculty of law, approximately 80 per cent of the students there are females.
“So, you see the issue coming to the fore. Our young men tend to be involved in criminality, while the ladies go to university and they get a good education,” lamented Johnson.