The Judicial Services Commission has appointed The Hon. Mr Justice Bernard Turner as a Justice of Appeal for the Turks and Caicos Islands, effective from May 1st, 2023, to April 30th, 2028. Senior Justice Turner, a 1987 graduate of the Norman Manley Law School in Kingston, Jamaica, has been a Judge in the Supreme Court of The Commonwealth of The Bahamas since December 2009, and was appointed Senior Justice in October 2020.
Prior to joining the judiciary, Senior Justice Turner had an illustrious career in the legal field. He served as Crown Counsel in the Office of the Attorney-General from 1988 and was appointed Director of Public Prosecutions in 1999, serving in that capacity for ten years. He is currently the Senior Judge in the Criminal Division of the Supreme Court.
In addition to his legal work, Senior Justice Turner is involved in various committees and initiatives. He chairs the committee responsible for designing and installing an electronic Bail Management System in The Bahamas, is a member of the Executive Committee of the Supreme Court, and a member of the Judicial and Legal Services Commission of The Bahamas. He is also one of three committee chairs responsible for the relaunch of a Digital Recording System within the court system of The Bahamas.
Before joining the judiciary, Senior Justice Turner was a trained Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism Examiner, a CFATF Mutual Examination AML/CFT Examiner and Trainer, and an IMF Short Term Consultant on Assessing the Quality and Consistency of AML/CFT Reports. He was also the Chair of the Commonwealth Working Group on Asset Repatriation from 2002 to 2004 and the Bahamian designated expert on the Committee of Experts on the Implementation of the Organization of American States Corruption Convention.
With his wealth of legal experience and extensive involvement in various committees and initiatives, Senior Justice Turner’s appointment as a Justice of Appeal for the Turks and Caicos Islands is a significant and positive development for the region.
