Trials in Bermuda take too long and need to be speeded up, according to new Director of Public Prosecutions Vinette Graham-Allen. She said trials could be conducted quicker if both the prosecution and defence sorted out non-contentious issues before coming to court. She said in her native Jamaica she often prosecuted three murder trials in a week.

?It appals me that cases take so long to be tried here because we were able to do cases very quickly in Jamaica,? she told . ?We would start a murder trial on a Monday, finish it on Wednesday morning and start another in the afternoon. At the Chief Justices Court we could do three murder trials a week, because that was all we would do in the Chief Justices Court. ?Trials take too long in Bermuda and we need to see how we can expedite these trials. ?The prosecution and defence need to be in constant communication about matters that are not an issue so that they only go to court on issues that are contentious so that when they go to court they know what evidence is needed. That?s the most effective way. Bermuda is much smaller than Jamaica and we handled the vast majority of cases there quicker than in Bermuda. ?Although the Jamaican system has problems, we were able to get through cases and were able to try cases much quicker than in Bermuda.? Mrs Graham-Allen said she assumed suggestions for agreeing admissable evidence before trials had been suggested in the recent review of the criminal justice system.