It is time for an independent body to be established to investigate matters involving the police, says attorney-at-law Faith Greaves.
“I do have a concern in terms of the police investigating themselves. There should be a separate body or a separate division within the system to investigate matters of this kind. However, we would all have to put our heads together to see what would be the best solution to having measures such as these being ventilated and being determined,” she stressed.
Greaves, the lawyer at the center of an incident involving a suspected recording of a private conversation between her and a client at a police station on February 4, expressed concern over the length of time it is taking the police to complete investigations on the matter.
“I have done what I needed to do to cooperate with the investigation in terms of giving a statement, et cetera and I believe at least by now we should have had some sort of feedback from the Office of the Attorney General and from the Office of the Commissioner of Police with regard to what their findings were,” she stated.
Speaking to the media earlier today on the sidelines of the Criminal Justice Symposium held at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, Greaves, who works out of the Chambers of Michael Lashley KC and Associates, joined with several other members of the Barbados Bar Association in demanding that the rights of persons in custody be protected.
“One of the things that raises its head pretty often in terms of constitutional rights, is accused persons in custody being allegedly beaten or threatened or intimidated. Another example, would be where attorney/client privilege and confidentiality are infringed,” she outlined.
Insisting that it is necessary to handle these matters correctly from inception, she pointed out that one of the major benefits would be a reduction in cases brought for constitutional breach.
“You will see a reduction in applications before the Constitutional Court for damages for breach of constitutional rights. It would also ease the burden on the public purse where you will see less occurrences of damages or awards being meted out in regard to such cases. You will also see the public a little more comfortable communicating with the police and cooperating with investigations.
“We have to get these things right at inception. If they’re not correct at inception, it has a ripple effect on the justice system in that we see where the investigations of police are being done shoddily when it gets to the stage of trial. Not only is the accused person put at a disadvantage, but there’s also a disadvantage to complainants who will not then be able to get their day before the court,” she stated.
Adding his voice to these concerns, attorney-at-law with Pilgrim and Associates Marty Garnes called for an end to the practice of the police holding persons in custody for inordinate periods of time without filing charges. He said in other jurisdictions there is a time limit on holding.
“If we look at the Constitution of Ghana, their police only have 72 hours to hold the person after arrest. After that 72 hours, they have to apply to a judge to get a court order to extend that time.
“We would like to see that there’s some sort of constitutional reform put in place to ensure that accused persons’ rights in this country are not infringed, so that we don’t have situations where police do not have persons in custody for 14 and 10 days, and then we have to apply for a habeas (habeas corpus refers to a writ requiring a person under arrest to be brought before a judge or into court) and when we apply for the habeas, guess what happens? They rush and charge the person so then the client is left with the sense that ‘if I had waited a little bit more, I probably would not have gotten charged and then it looks as if we did nonsense, when really and truly it’s the other way around,” Garnes said.
He also alleged that some lawyers have been prevented by the police from seeing their clients at the station.
To address these matters, defense attorney Michael Lashley suggested the setting up of a duty counsel to ensure that the rights of persons in custody are not infringed upon.
“That person can select that duty counsel from a list and they will ensure that rights are not infringed particularly for the poor, vulnerable and persons who cannot afford a lawyer,” he stated.
He also suggested that there be a complete overhaul of the Community Legal Services Act so that lawyers are present for in-custody interrogations and the implementation of legislation governing how suspects are treated in custody.
“Other jurisdictions have legislation with respect to the police and treating suspects similar to the PACE Act in England. It sets out codes, how you treat suspects in custody and after they are charged and it’s part of the law so police would have to adhere to those rules to ensure that a suspect in custody is properly treated. I believe those solutions will help transform the criminal justice system,” Lashley said. (JB)
