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Magistrates Court to be housed in Police station!
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The Magistrates Court is to be housed in the central Police station in Irish Town. Although said to be of a temporary nature while other works proceed, it certainlky does not seem right and proper.
Said the President of the Courts Sr Murray Stuart-Smith at the opening of the legal year: "The fact is that we have to make use of such resources as are available in this difficult transitional stage; and not be bound by political correctness."
The question many people are asking is when, and who, should stick to political correctness...certainly not the President of the Courts of Gibraltar.
This is what he said at the opening of the legal year:
"The question of accommodation and the availability of judges is a chicken and egg situation. You cannot have a third judge if there is nowhere for him or her to sit. That is still the situation. But the solution is I hope at hand. The Government is proposing to make available to the Courts the Central Police Station. When this is ready for use as a Court the intention is to move the Magistrates' Court there as a temporary measure, until the new Magistrates' Courts are constructed on this site, Mr Justice Dudley and I have been round the building with the Minister and the architect. It seems that it can very readily be adapted. The Court itself is a splendid room; at present it is full of gymnastic equipment, which makes it look a little like a torture chamber, but that is not, I think, a foretaste of things to come. This will enable the present Magistrates' Court in this building to be used as a third courtroom for the Supreme Court.
I appreciate that ideally it is undesirable to have a Magistrates' Court in the same building as a police station. And there will continue to be a police presence; but it will be at a much reduced level, with a separate entrance from the Court. The fact is that we have to make use of such resources as are available in this difficult transitional stage; and not be bound by political correctness, I have no doubt that everyone will understand the need for such a move."
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