Bermuda’s Supreme Court made the headlines in June when it was revealed that 73 criminal cases had yet to be dealt with.

The information was uncovered through a public access to information request made by Eron Hill, of the Bermuda Equal Justice Initiative, and involved six cases that dated back to 2021.

The 73 cases involved 90 separate indictments — six involved murder, 21 involved firearms or bladed articles, two concerned manslaughter, six involved sexual offences, eight were related to causing death or injury while driving under the influence, 30 were drug-related and six involved wounding.

Mr Hill called for extra resources to tackle the backlog.

“That’s for judges, for prosecutors, for defence attorneys,” he said.

“We need more court space, we need an increased budget for the judiciary — it’s every aspect of criminal justice reform.”

Kim Wilkerson, the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, said the Government recognised the impact of these backlogs and highlighted several initiatives within the 2025-26 Budget that would address this issue.

These included a 19 per cent funding increase for Supreme Court courtrooms and chambers “to support judicial capacity”, a $1 million capital investment to replace and modernise the existing case management system, and funding to increase space in the Dame Lois Browne-Evans Building.

However, a joint statement from Larry Mussenden, the Chief Justice, Puisne Judge Juan Wolffe and Alexandra Wheatley, the Registrar of the Courts, released days later clarified that 61, not 73, criminal cases concerning 65 indictments were still to be dealt with.

The statement said the limited number of criminal defence attorneys often had an effect on how quickly cases could be handled in the Supreme Court.

They said: “There seems to be a necessary practice now where in complex matters, where there is a single defendant, there is a lead defence counsel and a second chair [who often is as senior as the lead counsel].

“We recognise that the Bermuda Bar Association, along with the judiciary, has acknowledged the shortage in criminal defence lawyers and together we seek to find ways to encourage more lawyers into the criminal division.”

Mr Hill noted that the lack of defence lawyers is not a new issue and proposed, on behalf of BEJI, inviting King’s Counsel from overseas “to represent defendants as they simultaneously mentor the next generation of young Bermudian criminal practitioners”.

One of these backlogged cases involved Jahmari Beach, who was charged with killing Daunte Woods and with having a bladed article outside Somerset Cricket Club, both on October 25, 2020.

Mr Beach was indicted in February 2021, but a jury cleared him of all charges after a three-week trial in June.

The judiciary remained in the headlines when Puisne Judge Nicole Stoneham filed civil proceedings against Andrew Murdoch, the Governor, Ms Wilkerson and Mr Justice Mussenden.

Ms Justice Stoneham was understood to allege that her constitutional rights were violated after Rena Lalgie, the former governor, ordered her to stop working last year after a complaint made by Narinder Hargun, then the Chief Justice, to the Judicial and Legal Services Committee.

Elsewhere in June, the Department of Public Lands and Buildings submitted an application to build a café and parking lot at Southlands Park.

The application also proposed renovating all derelict buildings within the 37-acre park, restoring beach access and improving walking trails.

A letter stated: “It is envisaged that the proposed improvement/development scheme will be accorded the appropriate attention and support to enable the transformation of the national park for beneficial use for all.”

The proposal sparked protests from environmental groups and area businesses — a statement from the Bermuda National Trust, the Bermuda Audubon Society and the Bermuda Environmental Sustainability Taskforce said the application “represents a troubling example of overdevelopment, inadequate planning and disregard for public input”.

Delvin Bean, owner of Lost in the Triangle restaurant on South Road, said placing a proposed 120-seat café in the park “would essentially be the Government competing with private Bermudian businesses, as it will be built on government land, harm our businesses and potentially force us to close”.