Chief Justice Richard Ground yesterday called for a third court room to help the legal community deal with an increasing number of criminal cases.

Speaking after the monthly arraignment session Mr. Justice Ground told the court that, so far, there had been 97 indictments in 2004 compared with 87 for the whole of 2003 and 58 in 2002.

Since April of this year, Mr. Justice Ground said there were 79 cases awaiting disposition which the court had chipped down to 28.

"We've chipped away at the numbers and we're working to keep the pace," he added.

However, another facility would also help lawyers to keep their pace and have legal matters dealt with efficiently in the courts.

Mr. Justice Ground's comments followed statistics released by Director of Public Prosecutions Vinette Graham-Allen who said the department had worked steadily through 2004 despite a shortage of staff.

According to the department's statistics, there were 63 cases held over from last year which still had to go to trial. 53 of these cases have since been resolved, while the remaining ten will be heard next year.

An additional 96 indictments have been filed this year, 53 of which have been resolved. The departments expects to deal with another two by the end of the year, leaving 51 cases to be tried in 2005.