The Legal Aid Board (LAB) has assigned twenty one (21) Legal Aid Counsels, including two contract lawyers, to provide representation to a total of 802 indigent inmates whose matters have been listed for hearing during the two weeks nationwide judicial exercise.
The allotment of the lawyers came following final discussions with the Chief Justice, His Lordship Justice Desmond Babatunde Edwards and other key stakeholders on the planning of the two weeks exercise which commences today Monday 28 August 2023 and ends on Friday 8 September 2023. The exercise is the third the judiciary has organized; the first and second were held in 2021 and 2022 respectively.
Of the 802 cases that have been listed for hearing during the two weeks, 441 will be heard by different judges in Freetown while the remaining 361 will be heard in various courts in the provinces.
In all, a total of twenty three judges have been assigned by the judiciary for the two weeks long exercise. Offences include: murder; sexual offences; manslaughter; robbery with aggravation; house breaking; shop breaking; wounding; burglary; larceny; malicious damage; assault; fraudulent conversion; child stealing, etc.
During this exercise, inmates who have been in correctional centers for long periods, such as prolonged adjournments; inmates on remand without bail; those on bail but have not met their bail conditions; inmates awaiting indictments; those on summary review, etcwill have their cases heard by judges already identified for purposes of the Judicial Week.
The move according to the judiciary is “to increase access to justice, reduce backlog of cases not completed and to further decongest correctional centres across the country.”
Speaking on the Board’s readiness, the Executive Director, Ms Fatmata Claire Carlton-Hanciles drew references to the various applications already prepared by Legal Aid Counsels ahead of the session which include: applications for habeas corpus, bail, summary review, etc.
Ms Carlton-Hanciles also spoke about the recruitment of two private lawyers as contract staff by the Board to assist the Board’s defence team in ensuring that all those whose matters have been listed for hearing around the country have access to legal representation.
The lawyers she said will be deployed in courts that are yet to have LAB counsels for the session both in the western area and the provinces.
She appealed to LAB counsels to remain committed to their work and to continue to uphold the Board’s good spirit in ensuring that indigent persons are well represented.
She thanked the Chief Justice and the entire judiciary for the initiative and the magnanimity of the judges in setting free innocent inmates. She also thanked the government and partners including United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for their continued support to the Board.
