The Cook Islands court system is still dealing with a large backlog of cases dating back to 2020 due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Secretary of Justice Tamatoa Jonassen said there were still some cases from 2020 which have yet to be heard.

“These cases included both Judge alone trials and Jury trials. The Ministry of Justice, our Judiciary, and the Office of the Crown Law were of the opinion that Jury trials should not be presided over by a Judge remotely, so all cases set for Jury trials were put on hold,” Jonassen said. 

“For Judge alone trials we ensured we had the right technology to allow some of these cases to be presided over remotely.”

Jonassen said when Covid travel restrictions were lifted, Judges were able to come to the Cook Islands and preside over some of these cases that were part of the Covid backlog.  

“The most recent Jury trials were presided over by the Chief Justice Sir Hugh Williams in March of this year. The next court fixture for a Judge to be on island to preside over Criminal/Civil matters is scheduled for June.”

Jonassen said it was his understanding that all of these cases that are part of the Covid backlog are now being progressed through the normal court process. 

“However, there is no certainty as to when any particular case may be finally disposed of as it depends on each case’s individual circumstances (e.g. completion of discovery, entering a plea, availability of witnesses, defendant, counsel, and judges, court schedules, completion of probationary reports, rights of appeal, etc.),” he said. 

Jonassen said to assist with the backlog, some pre-trial matters and sentencing relating to the cases have been and are being dealt with remotely, and additional court fixtures have been scheduled. 

“Compared to the 2017 Court calendar that scheduled 10 weeks for Judges to be in country to handle Criminal/Civil cases, the 2022 Court calendar has scheduled at least 14-15 weeks for Judges to be in country to handle Criminal/Civil cases,” he said. 

“With the increased caseloads in our court system, the Ministry of Justice identified capacity constraints last year and began collaborating with Ministry of Finance and Economic Management and Office of the Public Service Commission to shift resources internally to address these constraints.”