RM Pusey stands firm

RM Pusey stands firm

 

SENIOR Corporate Area Magistrate Judith Pusey caught fire on the weekend from fellow members of the judiciary over what they say is her penchant for offering bail that is too low.
The criticism came during a seminar held for judges and could well be prompted by the continued outcry of Jamaicans over the high crime rate and the fact that crimes are also being committed by people who are out on bail.
But some senior attorneys told the
Jamaica Observer yesterday that the hierarchy of the judiciary has “had it out” for the magistrate, who is widely revered by the public, including even those she has sent to jail.

Yesterday, Pusey spoke of her chastisement while dealing with a matter before her in which an accused man had asked for his $100,000 bond to be reduced because he could not take up the bail offer. She eventually reduced his bail to $40,000. The magistrate also reduced the bail of another accused who could not afford to take up his offer. The colourful magistrate, whose comments regularly capture newspaper headlines, said she was “chastised” over giving “minuscule bail” and said many “other adjectives” were used to describe her bail offers.
“But I think I defended myself [sufficiently],” Pusey noted in relation to her response to the criticisms.
According to Pusey, she had to tell her critics that she works in Kingston, but not uptown.
“I can’t offer a man earning minimum wage bail of $1 million. If you are going to give him bail, then give him bail; if you are not going to give him bail, don’t give him,” Pusey said yesterday.
“Who are you trying to appease — your conscience or someone else’s?” she asked rhetorically.
The
Observer has been informed that the magistrate has, in the past, been criticised by members of the judiciary for various things, including communicating with accused persons who appear before her in the native vernacular.
“They really have it out for her,” said one senior attorney, adding that, from his knowledge, Pusey has been frowned upon by her colleagues on the bench.
In relation to the issue of bail, another senior attorney explained that the Bail Act says that if someone is being offered bail it must be a genuine grant.
“If you look at a little peasant and tell him bail is $4 million or $5 million for an offence for which he should be given bail, in essence he wasn’t given bail,” said the lawyer, who has extensive experience in the criminal courts.
On the other hand, he said, the offer shouldn’t be too low.
“I think she tends to balance the scale,” he said of Pusey. “There are some persons who she will not give bail, instead of giving them an ‘artificial bail’.”