Upon celebrating his seventy-fifth birthday on December twenty-third, Justice Adolph Lucas reached his retirement age.� As stated in the Constitution of Belize, the high court judge must relinquish his seat on the bench at that time of life.� His departure, however, comes at a critical juncture for the Supreme Court which continues to buckle under the immense weight of cases that have accumulated in the criminal division.� As it stands, the number of persons accused of murder is inching towards three hundred.� Having found that there is a flaw in the criminal justice system, particularly where it concerns trial within a reasonable time for persons accused of committing capital offences, criminal lawyers have been successfully exploiting the process of bail applications.� Justice Lucas, as a Belizean Supreme Court judge, has a stellar record on the bench, with only a few of his decisions being reversed at the appellate level.

Channel 5