In June of 2018 soon after the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) regained the government Attorney General Dale Marshall was quoted as saying – “I don’t have to tell you the backlog in both the civil and criminal jurisdiction in the high court is huge,…50 criminal cases, some of which dated back to 2003, decisions had to be made as to whether some of the older ones would have to be abandoned by the Crown...But we will have to put a mechanism which would see different cases receiving different treatment. We are not going to be approaching it in a way that would say that old cases would be purged from the system because many of them would have victims who would feel that they have been wronged”.

Fast forward to 2025 what is Attorney General Dale Marshall saying? The CBC reported that Marshall while speaking at a Symposium on the backlog of cases shared that there are over 1600 matters awaiting trial in the High Court compared to 350 in 2011…many of these 1 606 cases are from between ten to twelve years ago and now have a large number of accused individuals bringing constitutional motions against the state arguing the delay has resulted in a breach of their fundamental rights. The more things change the worse it gets.

#balderdash

There is sufficient evidence to conclude that like the PSV problem and an escalating crime situation, this government is clueless as to how to constructively address the problem of delayed justice by our courts.

Barbados Underground was established in 2007 with a heavy focus on highlighting problems plaguing our courts. Coincidentally, Dale Marshall was Attorney General between (2006-2008), Freundel Stuart had a short stint between (2008-2010) before his elevation to the office of Prime Minister, Adriel Brathwaite took over between (2010-2018) until the return of Marshall in 2018 until the present. He has been the longest serving Attorney General since 2007. It is instructive to note Prime Minister Mia Mottley served in the role between (2001 and 2006). Both Mottley and Marshall have had the greatest opportunity to influence the office of Attorney General and Legal Affairs in Barbados during the period 2001 and 2025.

The performance of the justice system has deteriorated since 2007 and the time has come to clean house. Marshall needs to do the honourable thing and respect time honoured Westminster tradition and step aside.