Proposed witness protection legislation to get input from Bar Association

A draft bill dealing with the protection of witnesses will shortly be shared with the Barbados Bar Association (BBA) for its consideration and comments.

Attorney General Dale Marshall made the disclosure during a recent symposium on the Criminal Justice (Plea Negotiations and Agreements) Act, 2024-24, at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre. 

“I believe that defence counsel would want to know…that a client who was going to be giving evidence against somebody and an accused would not both go up to Dodds [Prison] and sit side by side. Obviously that’s an untenable situation, and therefore legislation to secure the protection of witnesses in criminal cases is going to be especially important, and an important part of the toolkit,” he said.

Marshall said the legislation would be modelled after that of St Vincent and the Grenadines.

He added: “I hope that this legislation piques the interest of everyone, and that we use it. Often, we pass laws, and they go into the law books, and they sit there for 10, 12, and 15 years before somebody says, ‘wait, we got a law dealing with this’. 

“We want criminal justice reform to be meaningful…. I don’t want us to pass these pieces of legislation and leave them gathering dust. We have to find a way together to make our criminal justice system work…. We have to find effective ways of easing some of that pressure on the police, on the Office of DPP, defence lawyers, and on the system. And all of these pieces of legislation, when we enact them, are intended to provide such opportunities.” 

Marshall noted that the BBA’s criminal committee had examined the plea bargaining legislation before it went to Parliament, and his office was able to incorporate some of the critiques.

He said such a collaborative approach produces solutions that work well for everyone.

Director of Public Prosecutions Donna Babb-Agard S.C. said transparency and fairness underpin the legislation, and it also addresses the rights of victims.

“Some may argue that this legislation gives accused persons an undeserved break, but through plea bargaining, accused persons are given the opportunity to plead guilty to lesser charges in exchange for reduced sentences. Justice is therefore accelerated.

“It has been said that plea bargaining will help to mitigate the excessive harshness of the criminal justice system. Additionally, it provides a mechanism to incentivise defendants to cooperate with the government or to accept responsibility for their criminal conduct. The plea also provides a clear and certain resolution to a case which purports to bring finality for the defendants, the victims, the courts, and the community,” she added.

Sharing Jamaica’s experience with plea bargaining legislation, that country’s DPP Paula Llewellyn said there were some “teething pains” when the law was introduced but those were eventually sorted and the legislation is “working well”.

“So much so that it is a part of the prosecutor’s toolkit,” she said. “We have used it in several very big cases recently…. The formal plea negotiations allow you not only to have sentencing negotiation but importantly, to be able to use one co-accused in a multiple accused case against other co-accused.”

“Or we have had situations where a high-profile matter is in the public domain, and just…before the case is going to commence, somebody who has already been incarcerated [and] serving their sentence has decided that they want to take advantage of the provision.”

Llewellyn added that it was important to know when and how to use plea bargaining legislation: “It’s a win-win for the public interest, the accused, the victims and society as a whole if we all get it right.” (BGIS/BT)