Cornwall Bar Association welcomes new home for Westmoreland courts

WESTMORELAND, Jamaica — The Cornwall Bar Association (CBA) has endorsed the Ministry of Justice's plan to relocate the Westmoreland Parish and Circuit Courts from Great George Street in Savanna-la-Mar to Paradise in the parish. The current facility was severely damaged during the passage of Hurricane Melissa in 2025. President of the CBA, Dionne Meyler, and Westmoreland representative Tashakaye Perue toured the premises during a stakeholders' meeting led by the Executive Director of the Court Administration Division, Tricia Cameron. “This building will return the court system to a level of normalcy that has not been felt since the passing of Hurricane Melissa and the devastation— at the courthouse on Great George Street,” stated Meyler. The new facility, which will become the home of the courts over the next three years, is scheduled to open by April 2027. It is projected that by then the National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority (NaRRA) will have built a new court next door to the Westmoreland Police Headquarters currently under construction on government lands in Llandilo. “The Cornwall Bar Association is happy that, very shortly, the citizens of Westmoreland will be able to access justice in a pleasant environment. The Cornwall Bar Association is also pleased that the Court Administration Division has acknowledged the need for attorneys-at-law to have a robing room/place to meet with each other and clients while they prepare for the rigours of the courtroom,” said Meyler.