One corruption prosecution largely drove a 36% rise in new Grand Court indictments in 2024, the Cayman Islands Judiciary has said, and two of its 23 indictments are still to be tried. The court's clearance rate fell below its own target in both 2024 and 2025.

The Grand Court is the islands' trial court for serious criminal cases, and an indictment is the formal charge that opens a case there. Its Criminal Division received 139 new indictments in 2024 against an average of 102 a year in the three preceding years, according to the Cayman Islands Judiciary Annual Report and Accounts 2024, which was listed for laying before Parliament by the Attorney General on 27 June 2025 and is published on Parliament's website. The report said 23 of those indictments were "filed for what is in essence a single case, which is a prosecution arising from an investigation carried out by the Anti-Corruption Unit into allegations of bribery and other offences involving a public officer."

The court fell behind its incoming work. The Criminal Division's case clearance rate, the Judiciary's measure of whether the court is disposing of cases as fast as they arrive, fell to 79% in 2024 from 102% in 2023, against a target of 100%. Without the 23 corruption indictments the rate would have been 93%, the report said. The Judiciary's audited statements put the cost of running the courts at CI$12.7 million in 2024 and CI$12.4 million in 2025.

Pressure Did Not Ease in 2025

The Judiciary's 2025 report, published on its website with a foreword dated April 2026 and audited accounts signed on 30 April 2026, records 140 new indictments and 122 disposals in 2025, a clearance rate of 87%. It said the 2025 figure was broadly consistent with 2024 and 40% above the 2021 to 2023 average of about 100 cases a year. The report carries its own caution: the Criminal Registry moved to a new case management system during the year and, it said, "the criminal statistics reported may not be fully accurate".

"The clearance rate is an important indicator, but it is not, and cannot be, an explanation," the 2025 report said. "A rate below 100% signals pressure on the pending caseload; it does not, of itself, identify the reasons for that pressure."

The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions counts the same work differently. Its annual report for 2025 records 145 indictments preferred before the Grand Court in 2025; the Judiciary's report records 140 filed. Director of Public Prosecutions Simon Davis said in an email to The Caymanian Journal (TCJ) on 28 October 2026 that his Office counts the indictments he signs in a calendar year, each numbered in sequence and then lodged with the court. He said he did not know why the two figures differed, that there might be an overlap in dates of receipt at either end of the year, and added: "Either way, the number of discrepancies is minor."

The Judiciary's own review of prisoners awaiting trial found 38 defendants on remand at HMP Northward as at 6 January 2026, 12 of them held beyond its benchmark that custody cases should ordinarily be tried within six months of first appearance. The 2025 report attributed the longer waits to delays in pre-sentence and mental health reports, the limited availability of defence counsel in serious cases and late expert reports from outside agencies, rather than to any failure by the court to list trials. "Where reports cannot be prepared, assessments cannot be undertaken, or counsel are not available to proceed, cases cannot move, regardless of how many judges are available to sit," it said.

More Judges on the Bench

The Judiciary added capacity in both years. Six acting judges sat in the Criminal Division for discrete periods in 2024, drawn from the UK circuit bench, retired appeal judges from the Turks and Caicos Islands and the Bahamas, the Summary Court magistracy and the Cayman Islands Bar. In 2025, the report said, Ben Tonner KC, Kirsty-Ann Gunn and Justice Palmer of Jamaica acted in the Grand Court.

Chief Justice Margaret Ramsay-Hale asked for an additional judge to sit only in crime. The 2024 report dates the Governor's appointment of Justice Emma Peters, on the recommendation of the Judicial and Legal Services Commission, to October 2024. The Commission said in an email to TCJ on 26 October 2026 that it made its recommendation to the Governor on 10 October 2024, that its mandate covers the recruitment of judges rather than their appointment, and that the date on which the Governor accepted the recommendation was a matter for the Governor's Office. The Governor's Office announced the appointment on 14 February 2025; Justice Peters was sworn in on 13 February 2025 and began sitting in the Criminal Division on 17 February 2025, according to the Governor's Office release and the Judiciary's website. The Judiciary said she was previously a Circuit Judge at Ipswich and Chelmsford Crown Courts in England and, before that, Deputy Resident Judge at Ipswich Crown Court.

The 2025 report said the court had capacity to list trials earlier than defence counsel could accommodate, and that a sustainable solution to broaden the criminal Bar was "urgently required". It noted that a Public Defender Service had been discussed in the past.

The Case Itself

The 2024 report said the 23 corruption matters "have been fixed for trial next year", meaning 2025. The 2025 report does not report on their progress, and neither report names the case or the public officer.

The Anti-Corruption Commission, the body that investigates offences under the Anti-Corruption Act, said in an email to TCJ on 22 October 2026 that the Judiciary's report and its own press releases of 15 July and 2 August 2024 "appear to be relating to the same indictments at the Grand Court". Those releases announced charges against three people, one of them described as a former public officer, and summonses against 19 others, for offences including bribery of a public officer, fraud on the government and unlawfully obtaining personal data. The Commission said all of its cases are dealt with in the Grand Court. Asked about the report's reference to an "Anti-Corruption Unit", it said it had no comment on the term and presumed it referred to the Commission's investigation team.

The Commission's annual report for 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025, signed by outgoing chairman Charles Jennings, records 25 charges, nine convictions and 15 persons charged and awaiting trial at the end of the period. It does not say how many of those relate to this investigation.

Two of the 23 indictments remain outstanding and are listed for trial in the Grand Court on 7 and 18 December, Davis said in his reply to questions TCJ sent on 22 October 2026. All the other indictments had been resolved, he said. Asked about the Judiciary's statement on the availability of defence counsel, he said the Office had no comment, adding: "The ODPP will always work tirelessly with the defence and the courts to ensure that cases are resolved in a timely fashion."

In the same year, the Chief Justice wrote in the 2024 report's foreword, the Grand Court's Criminal Justice Reform Committee, chaired by Justice Cheryll Richards KC, who heads the Criminal Division, produced sentencing guidelines for offences under the Anti-Corruption Act, the law under which bribery of a public officer is charged, and for offences of dishonesty.

TCJ emailed Judicial Administration on 22 October 2026, with a reply requested by 26 October 2026, with questions on the clearance-rate calculation and the acting appointments. No response had been received prior to publication. The Judicial and Legal Services Commission's response on the Justice Peters appointment is reported above.