Power Restored to Supreme Court, Case Backlog Assessments Ongoing

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NASSAU , BAHAMAS – Court is back in session at the Supreme Court after power problems caused major disruptions, essentially shutting down court services and raising concerns about potential backlogs.

The rolling blackouts have so far been more of an inconvenience and financial setback.

But on Tuesday, the wheels of justice came to a halt as an ongoing power failure in the downtown area disrupted several courts and related services.

Power has since been restored, but officials say they are still assessing the full impact of the outage.

On Tuesday morning, a source alerted our News team to an ongoing power outage affecting the Ansbacher Building.

We’re now learning the outage also disrupted phone and internet services.

The situation became critical late Tuesday morning when the generator powering the Ansbacher Building malfunctioned, despite attempts by technicians to repair it.

The building had been operating on generator power since Friday afternoon, with constant refueling as the blackout stretched from hours into days.

The power failure forced judges to suspend trials, in some cases for a second day, adding even more pressure to case backlogs during an already busy judicial calendar.

In total, five judges and three registrars ceased operations.

The Swift Justice Building, which houses an additional four judges as well as the Criminal Registry, was also out of service.

Some court matters had already been adjourned Tuesday because of the uncertainty surrounding the power supply.

Acting Chief Executive Mildred Bodie told us that, as of this afternoon, officials were still assessing the true impact of the outage.

While she said she wasn’t exactly sure when power was restored, she said she had not experienced any further interruptions so far.

She added that officials were still going around the buildings, making sure everything was fully operational.

The power outage at the Central Police Station also forced inmates to be rerouted Tuesday.

Virtual proceedings for some criminal and bail matters were moved to the Remand Centre at the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services.

Today, we’re learning that the station was still unable to receive inmates, although the exact reason remains unclear.

As for other businesses downtown, they were open as usual today.

And the air was noticeably quieter compared to the roar of generators heard Tuesday.

At first, it was believed that a blown transformer on East Hill Street may have been part of the problem.

But we’re now learning that was not the case.

Bahamas Power and Light told us this morning that the cause of the blackout was a cable fault that took some time to repair.

In a strongly worded statement, the Bahamas Bar Association slammed what it called a failure by the relevant authorities to provide and maintain clear lines of communication with the judiciary, calling for urgent intervention.

In the meantime, court officials say that on Thursday, it will be a better time to determine the true impact this blackout has had on the judicial system.