Eyewitness accounts, positive ID does not guarantee justice

Eyewitness accounts, positive ID does not guarantee justice – State Counsel

May 01, 2012 News

After being sexually assaulted by two men in the presence of an eyewitness, who attempted to

State Counsel Konyo Sandiford

dissuade the criminal act, a young woman is still without justice. In fact the case which had gained the attention of State Counsel attached to the Chambers of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) did not even come to trial in any court of law.
This is according to State Counsel, Konyo Sandiford, who said that the matter never even reached the court, simply because of delay. The State Counsel said that this was the state of affairs despite the fact that the assaulted woman knew who her attackers were. Additionally, “an old man saw what was happening and he shouted out to the two men ‘what are y’all doing?’ but they were able to shut him up. Apparently he didn’t leave.”
The matter, as a result, was brought to the attention of the police and subsequently the DPP Chambers. However, by the time the matter was set to commence in court, the old man in question had died and the woman at the heart of the matter could not be found, Sandiford said.
However, the State Counsel noted that even as the matter was being processed there were reports that the woman was continuously inquiring about when the matter would be brought to court. “We learnt that she was inquiring from police officers when is my matter coming up…? Additionally it was found that when a matter comes up four, five, six years later, witnesses are disinterested; they are matured and some are just not willing to go back to the past.”
As a result, Sandiford said that it is crucial that “we work towards cleaning up our act in terms of investigation of the kind of matters we bring to the court. There are a lot of problems facing our judicial system as it is…”
Among the challenges that face the judicial system is the identification parade process, which according to Sandiford is at times compromised.
She alluded to the instances when witnesses are tasked with identifying the alleged perpetrator of a crime through a one-man identification parade which by extension serves to tarnish the process. The ideal situation, Sandiford explained, should see the victim of a crime being able to give a general description of the perpetrator ahead of an identification parade consisting of the alleged perpetrator and others with similar description.
However, the State Counsel noted that “if the police show the alleged perpetrator to the victim first then calls the ID parade then that process is compromised…Is it that you have picked the right person or you are so traumatised that you pick the very first person shown to you? So we need to clean up our act and the kind of investigations that we bring before the court,” she asserted.