Africa-Press – Seychelles. The Court of Appeal yesterday delivered its rulings in a number of civil and criminal appeal cases, marking the conclusion of the August session for the year.
Thus far, from January 1 to August 1, the court has disposed of 21 criminal appeal matters, inclusive of the criminal appeals concluded during this August session.
Court also concluded three miscellaneous applications, with the only pending one expected to be concluded by next week.
A further eight criminal appeals are listed for the December session, meaning the court is left with only nine criminal appeals all of which were filed in 2022.
Over the course of the year, 52 civil appeals have been concluded, with 22 more listed for the December session.
Considering the large volume of civil appeals, it is hoped that by the December session court will have concluded all of those filed towards the end of 2020, leaving 71 which were filed in 2021 and 2022 to be dealt with.
President of the Court, Anthony Fernando, yesterday conveyed his intent to course through the caseload as quickly as possible.
“It is my sincere wish that by the end of next year, namely 2023, we would be left only with the appeals filed this year,” he stated.
He also seized the opportunity to call on all parties – lawyers, Justices and court staff – to cooperate with one another towards ensuring that justice is served to all litigants appearing before court as their last bastion of hope.
In particular, he urged that court registry is kept informed of developments such as appeals likely to be withdrawn or where consent judgments are to be filed to enable court to list other appeals.
During the August session, four appeals were withdrawn, while another had to be adjourned for the upcoming December session, after it was discovered that a part had passed away and no steps had been taken for substitution.
He also warned against vague appeal grounds in filing written submissions leading to the dismissal of cases.
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