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By Halshane Burke
Director of Public Prosecutions Paula Llewellyn has defended the decision to enter a nolle prosequi just before a judge was to have sentenced a man for sexual assault.
This resulted in the action being discontinued while allowing for it to be prosecuted at a later date.
The accused, who pleaded guilty to rape and grievous sexual assault, was to have been given a non custodial sentence.
Ms Llewelyn, speaking Monday on Radio Jamaica's Beyond the Headlines, said the sentence was not in line with the gravity of the crime committed.
She added that the protocol on the sentencing indication, or a formal request of the judge on how the judge would rule if a guilty plea were to be entered, was done outside of the hearing of the court reporter leading to there being no transcript.
She said Senior Deputy DPP Jeremy Taylor, who was prosecuting the matter, objected to a non custodial sentence, despite the defence attorney claiming otherwise, and so it made sense to halt the proceedings.
In light of that conflict, "we took the view that, in terms of the interest of justice, that given all of the circumstances of the matter, perhaps it would need to be commencedd afresh," she explained.
She said the prospect of a non custodial sentence, "left a very bad taste in the complainant's mouth."
Bad precedent
But Bert Samuels, a senior attorney, also speaking on Beyond the Headlines, characterised the decision to withdraw the case as "bad precedent," and another example of "the preservation of the integrity of the judiciary... being put under a microscope," something which he said he was a matter of concern for him.
While conceding that the concerns of the DPP's office appeared to be "particularly meritorious," Mr Samuels suggested that "the cleaner and more tidy thing to have done is to allow the sentence to go," and take up the matter in the Court of Appeal, where, according to him the prosecution would have a had "a very good case."
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