Justice Tonia Barnett has served in the Sierra Leone judiciary since 2006. From 2006 to 2008, she was a Circuit Magistrate of the Kenema Judicial District and its environs. From 2011 to 2017, she served as Senior Magistrate in the Judiciary of Sierra Leone.
She has been a Judge since 2017. From 2017 to 2020 she was a Justice of the High Court of Sierra Leone. Since December 2020 she has been Acting Judge of the Court of Appeals.
Justice Barnett received a Bachelor of Laws from Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone in 2004, and graduated from the Sierra Leone Law School in 2005. In 2016 she received a Master of Laws (LLM) degree in Women’s and Children’s Rights from Harvard Law School.