Article: Arrested persons have access to legal aid but not immediately
By Dominique Loh, Channel NewsAsia
Posted: 18 October 2005 1842 hrs
Article link
SINGAPORE : Legal counsel for arrested persons is available but not immediately because it could impede police investigations.
The Home Affairs Minister told Parliament that during police interviews, the accused may be questioned on sensitive matters related to the alleged crime.
There is also a need to ensure confidentiality, otherwise there is a risk of critical evidence being removed or even destroyed.
When murder suspect Leong Siew Chor was arrested for the Kallang body parts murder, it was almost a month later when he had access to legal counsel.
Parliament was told in cases like this, it was to allow the police to carry out their investigations.
Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng said: "He will have access to legal counsel when the police have almost wrapped the case.
"The only way to guarantee that confidentiality of information during interview is not leaked, is for the defence counsel not to be present during interview.
"Also, we do not want interviews to be interrupted by counsel through unnecessary interventions."
Mr Wong said these interruptions can impede police work.
He said it is difficult for officers to ensure that the accused is not coached how to answer questions during police interviews, either through verbal communications or body language like hand signals or facial expressions.
As for sentencing in criminal cases, Parliament was told that it is not practical to scale it according to a person's mental capacity or intelligence.
The Law Minister said even before prosecutors decide to charge anyone, factors like a person's IQ would already have been considered among other things.
"During the investigative stage - where prosecutorial decision is made to charge or not, and what kind of offence to charge - these factors would have been taken into account," said Law Minister Prof S Jayakumar.
"But I would not go so far as to say that there is a blanket rule, that in X situation, a person can expect as a right or entitlement that they will not be charged," he said.
Prof Jayakumar added that appropriate action would depend on the facts of the case, and the sentencing left to the judge.
Posted: 18 October 2005 1842 hrs
Article link
SINGAPORE : Legal counsel for arrested persons is available but not immediately because it could impede police investigations.
The Home Affairs Minister told Parliament that during police interviews, the accused may be questioned on sensitive matters related to the alleged crime.
There is also a need to ensure confidentiality, otherwise there is a risk of critical evidence being removed or even destroyed.
When murder suspect Leong Siew Chor was arrested for the Kallang body parts murder, it was almost a month later when he had access to legal counsel.
Parliament was told in cases like this, it was to allow the police to carry out their investigations.
Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng said: "He will have access to legal counsel when the police have almost wrapped the case.
"The only way to guarantee that confidentiality of information during interview is not leaked, is for the defence counsel not to be present during interview.
"Also, we do not want interviews to be interrupted by counsel through unnecessary interventions."
Mr Wong said these interruptions can impede police work.
He said it is difficult for officers to ensure that the accused is not coached how to answer questions during police interviews, either through verbal communications or body language like hand signals or facial expressions.
As for sentencing in criminal cases, Parliament was told that it is not practical to scale it according to a person's mental capacity or intelligence.
The Law Minister said even before prosecutors decide to charge anyone, factors like a person's IQ would already have been considered among other things.
"During the investigative stage - where prosecutorial decision is made to charge or not, and what kind of offence to charge - these factors would have been taken into account," said Law Minister Prof S Jayakumar.
"But I would not go so far as to say that there is a blanket rule, that in X situation, a person can expect as a right or entitlement that they will not be charged," he said.
Prof Jayakumar added that appropriate action would depend on the facts of the case, and the sentencing left to the judge.
posted by beowulf at 3:11 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home