Criminal prosecutors face ?continuing difficulties? in persuading witnesses to testify for the Crown, Department of Public Prosecutions consultant Kulandra Ratneser has admitted.

The issue surfaced once again earlier this month when three men charged with attempted murder had their case dismissed in Magistrates? Court after a key prosecution witness refused to give evidence.

The most infamous example of the problem came in 2001 following the murder of Tekle Mallory at the Ice Queen car park in Paget, when the Crown faced enormous difficulties producing reliable witnesses, despite the car park being full of midnight revellers.

While Mr. Ratneser is adamant that the situation is improving slowly, he conceded that in a tight-knit island community, the problem is never going to entirely disappear.

?We do have to rely on the goodwill of the people and their sense of civic duty,? he said.

?But in a place like Bermuda, where people often know each other, this is not always forthcoming. Certainly the situation has improved since the Ice Queen murder case, but we are still experiencing difficulties, particularly in drugs cases where some of the witnesses we require may well reside overseas.?

At present, the Crown can lobby for an official summons to be issued by the court when a witness proves reluctant to come forward.

But Mr. Ratesner concurred with the sentiments of Attorney General Larry Mussenden, who suggested to last week that forcing people to testify could ultimately backfire.

?Certainly in all cases the Crown has got to make a strategic decision on whether to ask for the summons or not,? Mr. Ratneser said.

?By putting a reluctant individual on the stand, the prosecution does run the risk of that witness turning hostile and ultimately undermining the case they are trying to make. So at the moment it is a matter of deciding whether it is in the best interests of the Crown to summon the witness because quite often it might not be.?

But Shadow Attorney General Trevor Moniz, a long term advocate of comprehensive legal reform, believes that individuals should be required to testify at all times ? while he has openly questioned Government?s stomach for such a change.

?If we continue to allow people people to shirk their civic duty then we will descend into barbarism,? he said.

?We have to do what is necessary to make sure that everybody is doing their duty and that all the links in the legal chain are as strong as one another. But we have too many weak links at the moment and I have been saying for a long time that there needs to be a revamping of the legal system from top to bottom.

?The progress on the issue up until now is nothing more than piecemeal and I question whether the current Government possesses the political will for the kind of changes that need to be made.?