Prime Minister Samuel Hinds inducted two new magistrates at his office on Monday.
According to a Government Information Agency (GINA) press release magistrates Dale Kingston and Judy Latchman were selected by the Judicial Service Commission.
GINA said Magistrate Kingston is an attorney-at-law who was admitted to the bar in October 2000. She has worked in private practice and served as a legal assistant to then Chancellor of the Judiciary Desiree Bernard from 2001 to 2004. She then gained her Masters degree in Dispute Resolution. Magistrate Kingston then resumed private practice and has worked as a legal officer at the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission.
Magistrate Kingston said her new appointment is an accomplishment and pledged to work to the best of her abilities to administer justice fairly and make a meaningful contribution to the justice system.
Magistrate Latchman graduated from the Hugh Wooding Law School in 2004 and proceeded to the Chambers of the Director of Public Prosecutions where she served as a prosecutor for over four years.
Hinds, in his capacity as president, welcomed the new appointees and urged them to live up to the oath that they took. He said “It is extremely demanding because in all society people expect that they will be favoured by people they know and related to,” he said.
Meanwhile, Acting Chancellor of the Judiciary Carl Singh joined in welcoming the two new temporary magistrates noting that they were selected from lengthy list of individuals interviewed for the post. The appointment reflects the JSC’s confidence in their abilities and capabilities he said. “What faces you is hard work and I would expect that you are going to apply yourselves in the same measure of diligence that you have come to be known for,” he added.
Chancellor Singh then said among the challenges the judicial system faces is losing persons recruited from that department.
