Jurors heeded the advice of High Court judge and walked with their own lunches in the San Fernando First Assize yesterday.
The nine-member jury and two alternate jurors were advised by Justice Carla Browne-Antoine on Wednesday to walk with their lunch because there has been a significant reduction in the number of caterers providing meals to jurors.
This as several caterers continue to halt their services because of mounting debt owed by the Judiciary.
The owners of two South-based food establishments admitted yesterday they were no longer providing lunches because the Judiciary owes them thousands of dollars.
One of the caterers, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said, “The judge was right to tell the jurors to walk with their food. Even if we get paid we are not sure if we want to take that chance again.”
The businessman, who said he was owed about $6,000 for lunches provided between last June and November, said, “They were saying that they got no allocation and they don’t know when they will be able to pay, so we are in limbo. This is bad business.”
He said if someone owes the Government even $10, interest begins to accrue from the next day.
“They don’t want to hear that the suppliers owning you. We in a sad mess,” he said.
Another caterer who also discontinued his services said the Judiciary also owed him thousands of dollars.
“We cannot afford to continue providing free meals,” said the business owner, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The T&T Guardian, however, was told that a 12-member jury and alternates in another courtroom were provided with lunch from a caterer yesterday.
Commenting on yesterday’s story, several court employees said that on many occasions, dating back from the previous law term, bottled water, juice, tea, coffee and milk for jurors have been in short supply. One particular judge, court sources said, use her personal funds to purchase bottled water for the jurors.
The staff has been without a potable supply of water for several months and their stationery supply has also reduced.
Earlier this week, an internal memo was sent out to staff informing them that due to the financial constraints only travelling staff would be provided with desk calendars and diaries.
Judge was misquoted—Judiciary
The Judiciary’s Court Information manager Alicia Carter-Fisher, in an email response to yesterday’s story said the judge was misquoted.
“The honourable judge at the court in question indicates that she was misquoted. The judge was explaining to the jurors assembled, the process involved in the provision of meals. She indicated that invoices would be given to the prospective service provider(s) for the provision of meals. She noted that in recent times, there are fewer caterers willing to supply meals by this arrangement and so, the options have narrowed.
“ Therefore, she presented to jurors the following options:
• Persons who may wish something not on offer and were desirous of providing their own lunches may do so
• Persons who wished may opt for judiciary provided meals.
Further questions about whether the Judiciary was experiencing financial difficulty which is affecting its inability to provide food and beverages for the jurors and stationery and water for the staff were not answered.
What the judge said
Speaking to the jury before the State opened its case against Lawrence Dyer on Wednesday, the judge said the State would usually provide lunches for them but the caterers who provide this service have been reduced significantly.
“In order to provide lunch, we use vouchers, we don’t pay cash,” she said.
She said caterers who provide the meals would accept government cheques and vouchers.
“But you know how long the government takes to pay. The number of persons who provide that service has reduced significantly over the last year,” she said, adding that only one caterer is still accepting the vouchers.
“Members of the jury I suggest you should walk with your own lunch,” the judge advised.
However, she said in the event that the court sits after midday and the jurors don’t have lunch, lunch will be ordered for them. “You should have water and tea and so on. I hope that is provided for you.”