THERE is no law that empowers the police to send the parties involved in criminal matters to a Justice of Peace to draft an Agreement of Settlement, and such an action would directly pervert the course of justice.
But this illegal practice is taking place in my Region – Number Two district, and it would only be proper for the Minister of Home Affairs and the Commissioner of Police, who is a qualified lawyer, to implement measures to exterminate the presumptuous anomaly forthwith.
The rightful forum to effect a settlement in any criminal matter is at the courts, and just a simple directive, which must be adhered to, can bring about an end to the illegal operation right within the Force.
From my personal standpoint, members of the Force need to confine their operations at all times within enacted legislation and to do otherwise would be contrary to law in a disciplined service.
It cannot be disputed that a document prepared by a Justice of Peace to settle a criminal matter is not legally binding.
On every occasion, while on assignment as a reporter, when such documents were referred to in court, especially in indictable cases as a form of settlement initiated by the police, it was never accepted, but rejected on the basis of being null and void.
Only recently a woman related to me that her 13-year-old son, still attending school, was injured in a road accident with another pedal cyclist, who was culpable and who made an offer to pay five thousand dollars in compensation for medical expenses.
The matter was reported at the Suddie station and, according to the woman, she was advised by the S/O there to go to a JP to draft an Agreement of Settlement and return with the document. She explained to me that she was totally ignorant of how to even make a start, but made known her impecunious position to do so by being unable to pay a fee and did not comply with the advice given to her.
From an informed source, a JP fee to prepare such a document is $10,000, although no legal value can be attached to it. As a matter of fact, it is in violation of the law for a JP to prepare such documents.
When settlements are made in court, no expense is incurred, with complete satisfaction of justice well and truly served, contrary to the ones made at station level under questionable circumstances.