So sorry !

Minta maaf ok semua!

I am back. Finally I have my computer again. My computer was attacked by virusses and the poor thing just crashed and died. It was sad to see it die. I had to get it reformatted....so in in a way it has a new "birth" you could say. Ha-ha!

Anyway... the past few days have been hectic with me. I had been involved in a trial that caries the death penalty should my client be found guilty. The defence has been called in this matter. That would mean that my client had to adduce his defence for the court's consideration. In law there are 3 options available to him. He chose the option of giving evidence on oath.

Now you might be wondering why am I writing all this here, at this point. I was shocked you see!I was shocked enough for me to post this. I was caught with my pants down when the learned judge asked me to make my closing submissions after I had closed the case for the defence!. Normally the judge would give us another date to come back to court to make our submissions on the law and the facts. This is a very important part of any criminal trial. I then asked the learned judge for more time to enable me to do the needful. I was shocked when he said ok.... we start tomorrow at 10.00am! The time then was already almost 4.30pm and by the time I got into the car after obtaining the notes of evidence it was way past 5.30pm in the evening. As I was driving back I became angry. I was angry as to how the judge could ask me to submit the next day on the excuse that he has strict instructions from the CJ that he has to finish the case ASAP!

I was caught between two minds. To submit would mean "melepaskan batuk kat tangga"...or in other words submit just to please the judge and not do justice to my client who is fighting for his life. It was whilst driving that I decided that I was not going to make my submissions the next day. I was going to inform the learned judge that I was not adequately prepared to submit on a very difficult case which carries the death penalty upon conviction. To do so would mean I would be not discharging my duties to the best of my abilities and to give my client the best possible defence in law.The next day I stood up in court and argued as to why I needed more time to prepare and make my submissions. After some resistance from the judge he finally relented and gave me a month.

The point I am making here is this....Just because you have instructions from your boss do you follow them strictly without considering the implications ? Do you not consider accused persons as "persons" and refer them as part of the list of cases that one has to dispose off expeditiously ? Have we all lost our sense of compassion ?

M V Nathan