Courts in lockdown: criminal courts being held virtually where possible

Wednesday 27 January 2021

All routine court matters have been adjourned, whilst criminal cases continue to be tried during lockdown.

With the hope that Guernsey’s second lockdown will be short and sharp, most non-urgent court hearings have been adjourned.

Court officials will be taking stock of the situation in a couple of weeks.

Pictured: "Civil cases will not go ahead in the same they were going to before lockdown," said Head of the CCA, Deputy Peter Ferbrache.

Criminal court proceedings will continue to go ahead and will mainly be held virtually through MS Teams and video links. 

“The criminal courts will continue to be open,” said Head of the Civil Contingencies Authority, Deputy Peter Ferbrache.

“The court system will keep operating to do the basic essentials of the administration of justice.”

There are some instances where people have no choice but to appear in person.

“Where people need to appear in person, we’ll be using Court 1,” said Greffier, Jon Torode, “because it’s bigger and people can socially distance.”

When asked why people would need to appear in person at all, Mr Torode said it’s simply because some people might be on remand and could potentially be released on bail conditions.

Mr Torode said the following listing for this week is being assessed and amended as appropriate: