Incorrect info irks court

By BOURA GORU KILA
THE role of a police prosecutor is to check for correct information when bringing a case to court and starting it there, Committal Court Magistrate Albert Daniels says.
He made the statement yesterday when finding defects in the police information while presiding over a cybercrime case.
“This morning in this matter, I have given opportunity for prosecution to correct the defects on the information not once, not twice but even three times,” Daniels said. “This brings my mind back to the arresting and charging processes and the role of the police prosecutors after those two processes are administered to the defendant at the police station,” he said.
When presiding over a defamatory publication matter, he found information to be defective because it didn’t state where the publication took place, where the publication ended and whether the charge was properly under Section 21 (2) of the Cyber Crime Code.
The matter was adjourned to May 23 for the arresting officer to file an affidavit confirming the correct element of the charge.
Daniels referred back to a recent police prosecutors’ conference he attended where he spoke about the importance of prosecutor’s roles in court.
“In proceedings, if a case is good, it’s only good because the prosecutor makes it good.
“If it’s bad, it’s only bad because the prosecutor hands a bad case,” he said.
“So I appreciate prosecutors in all courts because it is their role to check on the work of an arresting officer essentially when bringing the case to court and starting it in court.
“Whether the right charge has been administered to the defendant, or whether the wording of the charge is correct and whether the wordings of the law is based on the information,” he said.
Daniels said there should be care taken even when placing the information before court.
This sheds some light on police just arresting people on a blanket charge of a cybercrime.