Defence will have access to state's evidence, though not everything will be revealed
Think Centre Calls for remedies:
Think Centre: Reaffirms Call for Moratorium on executions 20 April 2005 |
Defence will have access to state's evidence, though not everything will be revealed
THE courtroom — and justice — is about to get more transparent.
Changes are due in the criminal law process, which will shed more light on the state's evidence against an accused person before trial begins in the Subordinate Courts.
The Ministry of Law has agreed in principle to a framework where the prosecution would formally inform the defence of its case against the accused, a MinLaw spokesperson told Today.
Currently, defendants and their lawyers do not have access to important information, such as documents and statements made to the police, when they prepare their cases.
Today had reported last year on the momentum building within the profession to work for change.
The change has come, but contrary to a media report yesterday, the prosecution will still not show the full deck of investigation cards.
MinLaw said yesterday that prosecutorial disclosure "will only include all the relevant evidence against the accused".
This includes the list of prosecution witnesses and the statements of the accused that the prosecution plans to use. But not much more.
"To reveal all the information gathered in the course of investigations will have adverse consequences. It will mean that the public cannot provide important information to the police in confidence and this may compromise the investigations," said the MinLaw spokesperson.
The Law Society and the Attorney-General's Chambers had also proposed changes to the statutes.
And, at a law conference six years ago, the then Attorney-General, Mr Chan Sek Keong, now Chief Justice, had said his Chambers would give defence lawyers their clients' long statement, which contains the entire account of their version of events.
In turn, defence lawyers were to also disclose their case strategy.
The new framework will now be based on this model.
According to MinLaw, the defence will be required to inform the prosecution of its case, "as the prosecution's as well as the defence's disclosure of their case is to facilitate the crystallisation of the material issues prior to the trial".
Its spokesperson added that there would be consultations on specific amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code "in due course".
Lawyers generally welcomed the news, but were hoping for more.
"Certainly, it's a move in the right direction but I wonder how far we will go," said lawyer Lee Teck Leng, who pointed out it was still up to the prosecution to decide what is "relevant evidence".
"For example, in the UK, if six witnesses were to point the finger at an accused and four witnesses were to exonerate him, the police would be required to tell the defence and provide all their statements."
Complete disclosure is actually practised in the High Court. So, there is still a discrepancy between the higher courts and lower courts, said lawyer Peter Fernando.
"I also think it would be ridiculous if a defence should be rejected because it was not raised at the pre-trial stage … (but) overall, this is a positive realignment in terms of being fair to the defence".
Sources and Relevant Links:
Today online Criminal law process to change
17 October 2006
Today Online
Why tie our judges' hands with the law?
20 October 2006
Today Online
Free, yet faced with a mountain of debt
26 June 2006
Think Centre
Think Centre: Reaffirms Call for Moratorium on executions
20 April 2005
