The old Goodyear Factory in St Thomas. - Norman Grindley/Chief Photographer

Two years after the historic Morant Bay courthouse was gutted by fire, St Thomas residents are still bearing the burden of travelling to Kingston in search of justice.

Even the police, already hampered by limited resources, are bemoaning the delay in construction of a temporary courthouse to serve the parish.

Superintendent Jonathan Morrison, officer in charge of the St Thomas division, said travelling to Kingston was taking a toll on his squad.

"When we have to do it, it is a problem because we are limited in terms of personnel and transportation," Morrison told The Gleaner yesterday.

Everyday travel

He pointed out that prisoners are transported to Kingston every day while witnesses are taken across the parish border on certain days.

The Morant Bay Courthouse, the main seat of justice for the parish, was gutted by fire on February 19, 2007. Since the blaze, matters that were fixed for hearing in the Morant Bay Resident Magistrate's Court were transferred to Yallahs.

However, witnesses and litigants in St Thomas had to travel to court in Kingston for circuit and Gun Court matters.

While the courthouse, which was the scene of the famous Morant Bay Rebellion in 1865, was destroyed during the reign of the Portia Simpson Miller administration, the Government, headed by Bruce Golding has failed to adequately address the plight of the St Thomas residents for more than a year.

In June last year, Justice Minister Dorothy Lightbourne announced that the ministry had sought and received permission to use a section of the old Goodyear Factory as a temporary courthouse.

Land too small

At the time, Lightbourne also revealed that the ministry had bought land that was too small to build a judicial complex. She said more land was bought from the parish council. The land being subdivided to give the ministry the additional lands.

The Goodyear tyre factory was closed in 1997 after the company pulled production activity outside the country. A section of the factory was, however, refurbished at the turn of the decade, with the intention to use it as a call centre in what was then called the "production train". However the train never got going.

The justice ministry's plan was to use the facility for about 18 months. Almost eight months after the minister's announcement, the Government has failed to make good on its pledge.

"Negotiations are far advanced to identify a suitable location to construct a temporary facility for the Morant Bay Courthouse," read a section of a response from Rohan Powell, the ministry's communications specialist.

He added: "There are some new developments regarding the project, and the ministry is moving to complete these negotiations with the utmost urgency, to prevent any further dislocation to the residents of Morant Bay and surrounding communities in St Thomas."

While Powell was unable to state the nature of the new developments that have caused the delay, he said the matter was up for discussion at the Cabinet retreat that got under way yesterday.

tyrone.reid@gleanerjm.com