Dear Editor,
I read in the news that a Magistrate had ordered the detention of a Prosecutor for failing to produce a video recording in a case before her. According to the report in the newspapers, she did so because he committed “contempt”.
Well, as an aspiring Prosecutor who hopes to one day appear for the Police in a Magistrate’s Court, I am wondering whether I should continue my studies in this regard, because Mr Nigel Hughes, a 34-year veteran of the legal profession, did not object to her doing so.
My training has never advised me that I run such a risk, and I am assured that in appearing in a Magistrate’s Court, I have to be respectful, and should not insult or threaten the Magistrate during the hearing of the case, because Section 197 of the Summary Jurisdiction (Offences) Act CAP 8:02 empowers the Magistrate to charge me for such offensive conduct.
Could someone of those legal luminaries please clear the air for budding Prosecutors? Our future depends on this.
Respectfully,
Name withheld
