The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) is facing such severe staff shortages that it cannot assign prosecutors to new criminal courts, even as the Judiciary expands the High Court’s Criminal Division to clear a mounting backlog of cases.

The disclosure was made by DPP Roger Gaspard in a letter dated April 30 to acting Registrar of the Supreme Court Kimberly Prescott, in which he stated his office was simply not equipped, from a staffing standpoint, to support the assignment of three or four new High Court judges expected to begin handling backlog matters from early May.

Chief Justice: