JUSTICE Dawn Gregory-Barnes, noting several applications by jurors to be excused, has declared that their absence must be over and above the fact that the workplace will be affected.

She issued the admonition to those in waiting at the commencement of the June criminal sessions of the Berbice Assizes on Tuesday.
The judge said: “Jury service is necessary to the inconvenience of one’s employer. There will be inconveniences as employers are the persons the laws ask to provide their respective staff to be selected as jurors.”
Nevertheless, she warned that excuses will only be accepted at a personal level.
“If the juror is ill or is recuperating and you have made that application, along with proof, namely a medical certificate, then you can be excused,” Justice Gregory-Barnes stated.
In addition, she said: “If there is an examination during the time of a trial and you have your timetable, you will be excused. But I am sorry for those persons who have made applications based on the inconveniences of their jobs. Those applications will not be granted.”