On
27 February 2012, I noted to the Provincial Magistrate the following terms:
“The
four accused persons appeared before the learned trial magistrate on February
2009 charged with contravening section 131 of the Criminal Procedure and
Evidence Act, [Cap 9:07) in that he broke and
entered two different business premises on separate dates and stole there
from. The record shows that initially, of the five accused, the first four
admitted their guilt upon arraignment. The letter 'G' appears against each
of them. The fifth accused has 'N.G' against his number for both counts.
It
appears the letter “N” was added before “G” for both counts in respect of
accused 3, and 4 in a subsequent occasion since the colour of the ink is
different from the general ink used on 3 February.
The
record also shows that when essential elements were subsequently put in
respecting both counts the learned trial magistrate entered globular answers
thus “A1-4 yes.”
There
is no indication as to what happened to accused 5. The record shows that
on 3 February 2009 the four accused persons were convicted on both counts
initially charged. They gave their mitigation on the same date.
The
charge sheet reflects that on 9 March 2009 only accused 1 and 3 appeared before
the same learned trial magistrate for sentences. There is no explanation
as to what happened to accused 2,4 and 5.
As
for the sentence, they were each sentenced to 18 months imprisonment without
anything suspended although they both appear to be first offenders. May
the learned Magistrate comment?”
He
replied thus;
“The
trial magistrate who dealt with the above two cases left service on 18 May
2010. His whereabouts are not known to us hence we are returning the first
record to you without the trial magistrate's comments.
The
same magistrate dealt with the second case. Though the trial magistrate
signed the review cover, there are no reasons for judgment and sentence. Further,
the record was not submitted for review within the statutory period only to be
located as we prepared records for archives. We apologise for sending the
record for review well after the statutory period (S57(1) Magistrate Court Act
[Cap 7:10].”
In light of the above, I am unable to certify
the proceedings as being in accordance with real and substantial justice. The
records are returned herewith.
