Magistrate Carol Peralta yesterday asked for action to be taken against whoever was responsible for a prisoner turning up 90 minutes late in court for his case to be heard.

Johann Pace had to be in court at 9am but arrived at about 10.30am. The magistrate called for an official of the Special Response Team who are in charge of jail security and accompany prisoners.

Magistrate Peralta described the delay as unacceptable, intolerable and ridiculous and asked the prison director not only to investigate the cause of the delay but to take disciplinary action.

He said this was not an isolated case and if the pretext was to be made that there was a lack of resources, he would not be interested because the director has the responsibility to ensure that the court’s work be respected.