Transmenu powered by JoomlArt.com - Mambo Joomla Professional Templates Club

The Bar Council wishes to refer to the news article captioned “Eyewitnesses to crime may get government protection” appearing on the front page of the New Straits Times on 17/4/2001. The Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad is quoted as saying that Malaysians were generally reluctant to assist the police in investigations although crimes occurred right before them and that there is a need to protect important eyewitnesses as there were cases where such witnesses were threatened with dire consequences if they testify in court.

The Bar Council is of the view that it may not be necessary to draft new laws to protect eyewitnesses to crimes as there is already statutory protection afforded to witnesses generally in the existing Abduction and Criminal Intimidation of Witnesses Act,1947 (Revised 1997). Section 5 of the Act provides that whoever commits criminal intimidation with intent to impede the course of justice or so that the course of justice is thereby impeded shall be punished with imprisonment which may be extended to 10 years and shall also be liable to a fine.

The course of justice is impeded if any person from whom is required any evidence, testimony, statement or information in or for the purposes of any criminal proceeding, ceases to be available to give such evidence, testimony, statement of information, or withholds such evidence, testimony, statement or information, or gives or fabricates false evidence

There is further legal protection under Section 506 of the Penal Code where anyone found guilty of criminal intimidation shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may be extended to 2 years, or with fine, or with both. As such, the remedy to this problem lies not with further legislation but with the police authorities carrying out their investigations properly and ensuring that those responsible are prosecuted in court.

The Bar Council is of the view that it is unfair for the Prime Minister to say that many Malaysians prefer not to get involved in police investigations or to appear in court as witnesses “not because they are not public spirited but for fear that they may be grilled and heckled by lawyers in court”. As our court system is adversarial in nature, lawyers acting for accused persons in criminal cases are entitled to cross-examine witnesses whether they are eyewitnesses or not. The object of cross examination is to test the accuracy and veracity of the witnesses’ evidence and to determine their credibility. The Bar Council agrees that lawyers should not heckle witnesses in court and if they do so, they will run foul of the Legal Profession (Practice and Etiquette) Rules, 1978. Further, under Section 151 of the Evidence Act, 1950, a lawyer may not ask indecent or scandalous questions.

The Bar Council is of the view that often members of the public may not come forward to give evidence to the police as they may find that it becomes a hassle to lodge a police report at the nearest police station and that the recording of statements may be a long and tedious affair. If the police are more “people friendly” in this respect and the police procedures streamlined, perhaps more members of the public will be more ready to come forward as witnesses.

There is no rule of practice or etiquette that prohibits lawyers with political leanings to act for accused persons in court. However, if such lawyers misbehave or misconduct themselves in court to allegedly gain “political mileage” or for any other purpose, the court may cite the lawyer for contempt or to refer a complaint to the Disciplinary Board. Under our criminal procedure system, even an accused person who has committed the offence charged is entitled to legal representation in court.

The Bar Council is of the view that, in the final analysis, the Malaysian public must be further educated on civic mindedness and be reminded of their duties as citizens in a civil society.

Dated this 17th day of April 2001

Mah Weng Kwai
Chairman

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed