Shadow Attorney General Trevor Moniz has called for a massive review of the judicial system following a number of questionable outcomes in Bermuda's courts.

Mr. Moniz said the Island should be following the same route as other jurisdictions in ordering the judicial system to undergo regular probes, as well as completing annual reports for Parliament.

He said not only would they highlight areas that were not working well in both the civil and criminal courts, but they would make the justice system more accountable to the general public.

And the United Bermuda Party MP said it would be imperative for the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to be a part of any such reviews.

"The justice system in Bermuda is not working as well as it should be," said Mr. Moniz.

"In other countries, services like the court system have an annual report, which is tabled to Parliament and I think it is time that Bermuda did the same.

"They detail things like how many cases there have been during the year and what the results were. A perfect example of this is the Police report, which is tabled every year here.

"We need a report from the court system, and then others from parts of it, such as the DPP's office and the AG's office. They would tell us where things needed to be improved."

But Mr. Moniz, who is himself a lawyer and former president of the Bermuda Bar Association, said a review of the judicial system every few years would also play an important role in ensuring justice was carried out.

"Going further than that, in other countries, and particularly in the UK, they have instituted quinquennial reports, which are about every five years, where they examine the role and organisation of an agency and consider what form of governance is appropriate," the Shadow Attorney General said.

"They look at the status and structure of a particular agency and see if its achieving what it's supposed to be achieving. We should have a review of the justice system in Bermuda and we should have annual reports."

Mr. Moniz spoke out after claiming there had been a number of alarming results from the courts on the Island.

Only last week, knife attacker Justis Raham Smith was allowed to walk out of Supreme Court following his sentence hearing after Puisne Judge Charles-Etta Simmons said the 11 months he had spent on remand, coupled with the six weeks in prison since his conviction, was sufficient time in jail.

The 25-year-old, of Sunset Mews, Pembroke, had previously been found guilty of unlawfully wounding Shanae Outerbridge, causing bodily harm to someone else, and being in possession of an offensive weapon.

He also had previous convictions for violence, and the judge's decision led Acting Director of Public Prosecutions Kulandra Ratneser to appeal the sentence.

Less than a month ago, a convicted paedophile walked free from court after a jury cleared him of sexually assaulting a six-year-old boy.

But the man's lawyer, Larry Mussenden, launched a scathing attack on the Police investigation into the 2001 incident, and claimed they could have made the job of defending the 27-year-old a lot more difficult.

And in August six men charged with conspiring to smuggle $11 million worth of cannabis and $600,000 worth of heroin into the Island had their case dismissed when prosecutors failed to appear in court and a further adjournment was not granted.

The senior prosecutors were tied up in the Justis Smith case, and a junior prosecutor was sent to ask for an adjournment, but it was not granted.

The DPP is now trying to bring that case back before the courts.

However, Mr. Moniz said the conviction of Stanford Glen Archibald earlier this year for the 18-year-old murder of Aaron Easton had shown him that some improvements had been made in the DPP's office over previous years.

He said that case showed that Police and prosecutors had worked closely together to get a result.

And he said he believed there had been an improvement since Mr. Ratneser had taken over at the helm of the DPP's office earlier this year from former DPP Khamisi Tokunbo left.

But he said he still believed annual reports and an in-depth review were needed to make the system more reliable, and he said Hamilton needed a new Police station and new court building to ensure the efficient investigation and prosecution of crimes.

Attorney General Paula Cox was not available for comment last night.

However, Mr. Ratneser said if he was requested by Government and the Governor to produce an annual report on his office's work, it would not be a problem to him.

He said: "Of course, I would be happy to do that - I would have no problem. It can be done. I'm not sure how easy it could be done, but it could certainly be done."