PETALING JAYA: A lawyer has claimed that accused persons with no legal representation in court are quite often “rushed” by magistrates into pleading guilty so that their cases can be disposed of quickly.
Baljit Singh Sidhu said the rush to meet key performance indicators has resulted in accused persons being denied justice.
“It’s often a case of ‘justice hurried, justice buried’,” he said, quoting an oft used phrase in legal circles.
Baljit was commenting after a Shah Alam High Court last week set aside the conviction and sentence of a senior citizen who was accused of displaying images of Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Ibrahim on his vehicle during the Kuala Kubu Baharu by-election recently.
Allowing a revision application by P Ramasamy, 66, judicial commissioner Wendy Ooi ruled that the accused had only made a qualified plea of guilt before the magistrate hearing his case.
Ooi ordered that the case be re-tried.
On May 6, Ramasamy was sentenced to a month in jail and fined RM3,000 for the offence. He was also ordered to serve an additional 10 months in jail if he defaults on the fine.
He had been charged under Section 4A(1) of the Election Offences Act 1954 for inciting hostility among different groups of voters.
Baljit, who is also an adjunct professor and author of the book “Criminal Litigation Process”, said the law requires a magistrate to treat guilty pleas with utmost seriousness.
“The procedures must be strictly followed. A magistrate must explain to the accused and be satisfied that he understands the nature and consequence of the plea,” he said.
He added that the facts must be read out by the prosecution, and all mitigating and aggravating factors evaluated thoroughly before sentence is meted out.
Baljit claimed that procedures have been watered down in recent cases.
He said interpreters must also be properly trained as they form an important conduit between a magistrate and an accused.
“If left unchecked, the lower court system will end up in the doldrums,” he added.
Senior lawyer Kitson Foong said a magistrate’s workload is heavy, especially for those working in major cities across the country.
Nevertheless, no accused person should suffer an injustice, he added.
Foong said one solution was to increase the number of magistrates handling criminal cases.
“However, that may be easier said than done because there may simply not be enough courtrooms to house them,” he said.
Foong said lawyers present for other cases could volunteer to assist accused persons to ensure any guilty plea is made unconditionally.
“I have stepped in as amicus curiae (friend of the court) on several occasions at the magistrates’ courts when accused persons were in a state of loss,” he said.
With the government having introduced a scheme to assist the poor 12 years ago, lawyer Rafique Rashid Ali said society should have reached the point where all accused persons are legally represented.
He said the right to legal representation is enshrined in the Federal Constitution, even for accused persons who want to plead guilty.
“This is to ensure the accused person gets an appropriate sentence after his counsel puts forward mitigating factors,” said Rafique, a former chairman of the Bar Council’s criminal law committee.
He suggested that magistrates stand down such cases so that lawyers present for other cases can represent them on a pro bono basis. - FMT
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