Dominica’s Chief Magistrate, Candia Carrette-George, is confident the Bail Act will, among other things, restore public confidence in the judicial system. Enactment of the Bail Act which was delayed after the passage of Hurricane Maria in September 2017, has reportedly received government’s attention and is expected to be placed before Parliament soon.
Carrette-George told a press conference recently that the new Act, once passed, will also assist with uniformity and consistency. “The Bail Act would be very important to us; I cannot not emphasize the importance,” she said. “What it would mainly assist us with is consistency.” Carrette-George said at present, a lot is left to a magistrate’s discretion. “Matters come up and perhaps one Magistrate may look at the situation. Although we have guidelines, one may say I am not willing to grant bail for this one and then lawyers may go magistrate shopping and may be able to work on the emotions or sympathy or discretion of another magistrate”. She explained that the Bail Act would ensure uniformity and consistency and obviously, if that is done, it will create a sense of confidence in the public that, “this is what is done, this is what is just. That is mainly how it would assist us. So, we look forward to it,” she said. Meantime, Acting Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Justice, Immigration and National Security, Jo-Anne Commodore said the Act had been on the books before but, “we had asked for further reviews.” Commodore said Justice Minister, Rayburn Blackmoore recently asked that, “We go full speed ahead with that.” She added that the only other Act currently being considered is the ‘Firearms Act’. “We are still awaiting advice from the Attorney General] Chambers,” she stated. “I don’t have much details, but I know that we have asked that this Act be reviewed.” As early as May 2016, Attorney General, Levi Peter, said while speaking on state-owned DBS Radio that plans were in place for the introduction of a Bail Act in Dominica to address some of the inconsistencies within the justice system. He said then, that he was more confident that the bill for the Bail Act had gone “to and through cabinet” and the Act is “in a different category”.
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