The Judiciary of Sierra Leone, through the Judicial and Legal Training Institute (JLTI), has ended a two-day capacity building workshop for thirteen (13) newly recruited Magistrates ahead of postings to various parts of the country.
The workshop, which commenced on Friday 23rd May 2025, was held at the Sexual Offences Model Court at the main Law Courts building in Freetown with the aim of fostering efficient and effective dispensation of justice at magisterial level.
In his opening remarks, the Honourable Chief Justice Komba Kamanda said the training is significant and timely especially in the wake of a new transition of the newly appointed Magistrates from one arena within the justice system to another. Citing the distinction between members of the Bar and the Bench, Hon. Justice Kamanda said the Magistrates have been practicing as lawyers in different capacities, but a new position has been offered them as members of the bench requiring them to do justice to all manner of people without fear or favour.
The Hon. Chief Justice maintained that the institution considers it unfair to just send them into their new roles without taking them through the basic and fundamental training of what is required of judicial officers which include the substantive law, the Criminal Procedure Act, 1965 / 2024, aspects of civil procedure, evidence and the ethics of the profession.
He emphasised that the job of magistrates or benchers is a career path, which if handled with the greatest sense of professionalism and diligence, would take them to greater heights in the profession. He admonished them to put in their best behaviours while performing their judicial functions.
“It is expected that you are to be well-behaved after this training because you’ll now be responsible and held accountable for your actions. I’m willing to give you all the support you need as Magistrates to do what is right in rebranding the image of the institution. But if you do otherwise, the hammer of ethics of our noble profession will definitely fall heavily on you,” he warned.
In his remarks, Hon. Justice Reginald Fynn (JA), a member of the Judicial and Legal Training Institute (JLTI), said the training, among other things, is aimed at bringing the new Magistrates up to speed with the intricate details of the work of judicial officers including the institution’s core values of independence, integrity, impartiality and equality.
He added that the facilitators were carefully selected to represent experienced Benchers who served as Magistrates before becoming Judges and those who went directly as Judges with wealth of experience in both Civil and Criminal matters.
The newly appointed Magistrates, some of whom have already been posted to places such as Port Loko, Mile 91, York, Waterloo, and Kono, benefited from key topics including overview of the Magisterial Jurisdiction with specific reference to both Civil and Criminal Procedures, jointly taught by Justices Tonia Barnette (JA) and Simeon Allieu (JA), the Bail Regulation and the position of the Judiciary, delivered by the Hon. Chief Justice.
Other topics include Evidence at a Glance, jointly delivered by Hon. Justices Fatmatta B. Alhadi, Reginald Fynn, and Simeon Allieu; judgment writing; mannerism on the bench; administrative duties in the court room; ethics in practices and concerns peculiar to courts in the provinces.
