From time to time, I wonder how much a prosecution costs. Because there is a cost to it. Time, effort, skill, people, resources, and systems are drawn upon. There is an opportunity cost for all of that. All that can be spent somewhere more fruitful. Whenever I see the trial of a powerful politician, I wonder how much prosecuting them cost. Immense effort, coordination, time, expertise, planning, and preparation go into prosecuting a case against …
Even though I have conducted criminal cases for my entire career in practice, twenty-plus years now, doing everything from minor crimes of theft to attempted murder in the subordinate courts up to the High Court for drug trafficking, kidnapping and murder, and conducting criminal appeals and applications in the Court of Appeal and Federal Court, I am not known as a criminal litigator. Some are surprised to know I conduct criminal cases at all. I …
It was a High Court court-assigned counsel case. My client and another were charged with the murder of a man. Although according to the prosecution’s case, the other guy shot and killed the man, my client was also charged with the same offence of murder. He was charged with having a common intention for the man to be murdered. That meant, even though he did not pull the trigger himself he can be charged with …
I recently went down for a hearing in Johor Bahru High Court for a criminal matter. It was to examine a witness. The examination was not expected to take long; half an hour, three quarters, at most. A loose thread to sew back into the record of appeal. Before my trip down in the evening, I attended an intense physical hearing in the appellate court in the morning, which left me dazed and numb sometime …
In a civil or criminal case, all the evidence in support of a civil claim, criminal prosecution or defence to either of them must be brought before the trial judge for consideration, evaluation and judgment. It is at the trial that the judge will see, hear and experience the evidence produced in court. The judge does so firstly to decide on what evidence should be accepted or rejected. The criteria for admitting evidence is relevance. …