On Wednesday we told you that Magistrate Sashawna Jody-Ann Thompson was attacked inside the Punta Gorda Town courtroom. An accused man leapt from the dock and accosted her with an electric fan.
This has brought into sharp focus the question of security for magistrates.
The ComPol explained that the police will charge the perpetrator, but that a wider discussion needs to take place to ensure incidents like these don't reoccur- including stiffer sentences.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"I have said before that there is a need for us to have a discourse about respect. When I was assaulted in Orange Walk, people made a whole issue about it. If you assault the Commissioner of Police while he's working, then who are you not going to assault? If you assault the magistrate who sits on a bench dispensing justice, then who are you not going to assault? So the police is on top of the matter, I believe the magistrate had made a report and the police is going to deal with it. And I hope that when the matter goes before the court, the court deals with it adequately. It cannot be that we have people who are assaulting police, magistrates, journalists, and so forth when we're doing our work and they just get a slap on the wrist and go home. We must send a strong signal that is going to serve as a deterrent to anybody who thinks they can do these kinds of acts and get away with it."
Courtney Menzies:
"But there are reports that the man is mentally ill. In that case, what then happens?"
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"If he's mentally ill then he still goes to prison and then the prison is going to arrange for him to get the care that he needs to be able to assist him but that should not be a justification, no."
Thompson has been a magistrate for 3 years.
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