Magistrate wants courts to impose bail amounts as a deterrent

By ZEDAIAH KANAU
A MAGISTRATE has called on the courts to impose bail amounts which would deter people from absconding bail, thus reducing the list of outstanding bench warrants.
Magistrate Mark Pupaka made the remark while speaking to members of the law and justice sector at a court-user forum at Bomana on Friday. He said “people on bench warrants are either breaking out of remand or absconding bail”.
“We can do something about people who are absconding bail.
“Where we can be proactive is when nominating the bail amount,” Pupaka said.
“At the end of the day, the bail (amount) should not be a matter of affordability.
“Bail must be sufficient, such as to bring that person to court.”
Magistrate Pupaka said the lower courts had seen an improvement in attendance when the bail amount was high.
“We’ve got the traffic (court) attendance up by simply managing the bail amount,” he said.
Justice Panuel Mogish said bail should be set based on the seriousness of an offence.
“In the Supreme Court we have tariffs of sentencing.
“If you’re charged with robbery, then the judge will ask which category.
“It’s either category one, two, three or four,” Justice Mogish said.
“Do you think we can apply the same principles in bail applications?
“For instance, the robbery of a house is the most serious of the robberies.
“So the bail for that kind of robbery should go up compared to a street robbery.
“That’s something for the judges and magistrates to think about.
“Maybe it’s time that we create some precedence and set some standards.”