The Judicial and Legal Services Commission has (JLSC) introduced a fresh face to the High Court of Justice in Antigua and Barbuda.
Justice Tunde Ademola Bakre has been chosen to serve as a High Court Judge, commencing October 1, 2023, and continuing through September 30, 2025.
Justice Bakre, an accomplished legal practitioner who was called to the bar in 1993, assumed the role of a judge at the Ogun State High Court in 2013. In 2018, he received a secondment by the National Judicial Council of Nigeria to provide technical assistance to the Judiciary of the Gambia.
The Nigerian’s appointment comes as a replacement for Justice Colin Williams who, having served as a High Court Judge in Antigua and Barbuda for slightly over two years, has been reassigned to a significant role in the Commonwealth of Dominica.
In his new capacity, he will lead the country’s criminal division.
This reassignment was prompted by a pressing need for a Criminal Judge in Dominica, as the nation had been without one since the retirement of Justice Richard Floyd in April 2023, due to health-related reasons.
Justice Williams’ appointment as a High Court Judge in Antigua and Barbuda was officially announced by the JLSC on March 1, 2021. However, his transition to the role of a Criminal Judge in Dominica became effective on September 1, 2023, following directives issued by the Chief Justice of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, Her Ladyship the Hon Dame Janice Pereira, on July 21, 2023.
Since then, Antigua and Barbuda’s High Court had been operating with just one criminal judge.