By Kisean Joseph
Both the St John’s Magistrates’ and All Saints Magistrate’s courts will be back operating from their original location on High Street next week.
Attorney General and Minister of Justice and Legal Affairs, Sir Steadroy Benjamin, confirmed the relocation in a statement to Observer, which advised that “September 16th is the date set for the transfer”.
“I’ve just drafted the necessary orders for the courts to be transferred from the Transport Board building [at Herberts] and ‘Knuckle Block’ back to the High Street location,” the AG said.
St John’s Magistrates’ Court has been operating from the Chinese-built community centre at Knuckle Block in Gray’s Farm for approximately five years, while the All Saints Magistrate’s Court, which previously operated from the compound of the All Saints Police Station, was moved to a building on the premises of the Antigua and Barbuda Transport Board in Herberts during the same period; however it also had sittings in the High Street location several years ago.
The relocation comes after an extensive renovation of the High Street building, which once housed the High Court of Justice. The refurbishment was prompted by threats of industrial action from court staff over poor working conditions at the original site.
This move has been met with approval from various quarters, including St John’s Rural West MP Richard Lewis, who has been a vocal advocate for relocating the court from the community centre in his constituency.
Responding to the news of the court’s return to High Street, Lewis expressed cautious optimism.
“They keep telling us, for years now, that they’re going to be moving out of the centre, and the dates keep changing,” he said. “I’m hoping that come September 16th, the centre can be handed back to the people of St John’s Rural West.”
MP Lewis highlighted the potential benefits for his community in reclaiming the space.
“We can begin to collaborate as a community on how we can host programmes in that centre to assist our young people and get particularly our young boys off the street,” he added.
The courts’ return to their original location is expected to improve the efficiency of the judicial process and provide better working conditions for court staff.
