Jury duty vital to preserving freedom, new jurors told

Jurors play a vital role in maintaining Barbados’ freedom and prosperity, Justice Carlisle Greaves told a new cohort of jurors as he addressed them in the No. 3 Supreme Court on Monday.

Welcoming the group, he stressed that while for some, serving on a jury might seem “burdensome”, it was nevertheless a necessary “sacrifice you have to pay to keep this society free.”

The judge said: “We are a very fortunate people in this society. It is not perfect. We have our struggles, bills to pay, and debts to clear. We have our wishes and yearnings that we would like fulfilled, and sometimes it looks so difficult, but we are still among the most fortunate people on earth. This is a paradise.” 

“Nobody is invading our country, overthrowing the government, installing who they like. Nobody is taking up our resources…. Nobody is taking up our lands or bombing them. No bombs are raining down on our houses, killing our children, our wives, our sisters, our brothers, our friends.” 

“We can sleep in our homes pretty comfortably at night without hearing sirens going off or warnings to go to bunkers. We are not at war with anybody…”

Acknowledging the island’s challenges, the judge noted that, compared with other countries, Barbados has much to be grateful for.

“Yes, we have a few robbers, but most of us will live our entire lives without anything happening to us,” Justice Greaves said. “Most of us live in a community and have never seen a murder, and never knew of anybody who was murdered from our community. We do not have persons running around like Gestapo, running around with masks on their faces, abducting people off the street, whether they are officials or not. So this is a paradise to compare.” 

“We have to battle the potholes and so on, but that is a small discomfort compared to what some people have to live with, who have to live with craters from a bomb dropping. We have a lot to be grateful for in this community, and we have every reason to protect it, because when we do not, we lose. A minority of people are sufficient to throw us upside down.”

“So you see how important you are as jurors. You play that role to keep us a free nation and a prosperous nation, relatively speaking. It is important.”