CJ: Cops to blame for backlog of bench warrant cases

News that matter in Papua New Guinea

CJ: Cops to blame for backlog of cases

PORT MORESBY: Papua New Guinea (PNG) Chief Justice Sir Gibbs Salika has lamented that the bulk of the backlog of 6,372 cases accumulated over the past seven years was caused by the police failing to serve bench warrants.

Sir Gibbs also revealed that more than 11,000 criminal cases were still pending with more than half of it be3nch warrants.

Total pending criminal cases is 11,221 as of December,” he added.

He also said the judiciary services will also strive to enhance efficiency by going paperless by the end of the year.

The news break was published by The National:

 

CJ: Cops must serve warrants

February 2, 2022The NationalMain Stories

By BEVERLY PETER and CLARISSA MOI
CHIEF Justice Sir Gibbs Salika says more than 6,000 bench warrants are pending execution nationwide and blames the police for failing to carry out the court orders.
“A total of 6,372 warrants are still pending and need to be executed by police,” he told The National yesterday.
“Due to the police failure to carry out court orders to serve the warrants, the cases have been piling up for about seven years.”
Sir Gibbs revealed that more than 11,000 criminal cases were still pending with more than half of it bench warrant cases.
“Total pending criminal cases is 11,221 as of last December.
“That comprises of people on bail, custody and bench warrants.
“But we will find strategies not to count those bench warrants because it is the work of the police to get them and they are not doing that.
“Bench warrant cases are a problem and are being added yearly.
“Bench warrant cases constitute about 55 per cent of the cases that are still pending,” he lamented.
Sir Gibbs said of the 11,221 pending criminal cases, 5,000 were the ones on bail and in custody while the rest were on bench warrants.
“Police should go and serve the bench warrants so that they are brought to court.
“If police can execute the bench warrants (efficiently), it will help the system to get rid of those cases and move on with the new ones.
“It is a massive task and for that reason, we need more judges.
“The judiciary needs about 60 judges.
“We have got the budget to have 55 judges.
“Currently, we have 36 substantive judges and 12 acting judges.
“If we can get 12 new judges, I believe that will be enough to deal with a good number of cases to offload the pile of cases,” he added.
Sir Gibbs said one of the ways to deal with the backlog of cases quickly was to transfer some of the pending cases to alternative dispute resolution (mediation).
“One week each month is allocated for mediation and mediators, with a few judges involved in mediating those cases so that more cases can be disposed of instead of waiting for the court,” he said.
“We believe that there are cases that can be mediated.
“We can sit down, discuss the matter and come to a solution to mediate the dispute and the case is then disposed.
“This will save judges from writing decisions and judgments.
“This is the initiative we will take to try and reduce the backlog of cases for this year,” he added.

Plans for judiciary to go paperless: CJ

February 2, 2022The NationalMain Stories

By CLARISSA MOI
CHIEF Justice Sir Gibbs Salika says the Papua New Guinea (PNG) judiciary services will strive to enhance efficiency by going paperless by the end of this year.
“A couple of (major) events will be happening this year,” he said.
“We have the national elections.
“Elections bring about political change but it can also cause civil unrest and sometimes violence.
“And when it is all over, there will be a period of adjustment.
“An election is, therefore, a time when patience, restraint and discipline will be required, particularly for the police.
“For the courts, there will be many challenges to the results with disputed returns in a high percentage of electorates.
“These will continue well into the next Parliament.”
Speaking at the legal year opening dedication service at the Lakani Toi Memorial Church in Port Moresby’s Hanuabada yesterday, he said those are the matters “we hope to achieve this year”.
Sir Gibbs said this also a year for consolidation of all the work they had been doing in transforming the judiciary into an e-judiciary.
He added that technology was vital in helping minimise corruption.
“We are going electronic,” he said.
“We want to extend this to the Correctional Services and the police.
“All major police stations have been hooked up to a satellite dish, so when a matter is brought before the police station, automatically it gets registered.
“Apart from our electronic case management system coming on stream, this initiative is spawning many new technological developments using Artificial Intelligence that may transform the work of our judges and magistrates.
“We may also be able to reduce overcrowding in cells by the use of a system called digital bail.
“Judges are now equipped with a ‘judges’ portal’ so that wherever they may be, they have all the judicial resources available to them on their smartphones.
“We are also developing digital identity systems to help in facial recognition and digital services to increase efficiency of case disposal.”