Registrar explains jurors’ appointment and code of conduct in courtroom |24 January 2015
The Registrar of the Supreme Court, Juliana Estico, yesterday met members of the media to explain the lack in number of jurors in a murder case as reported by a local daily newspaper.
Saying that the newspaper information was wrong, Mrs Estico explained the procedure of appointing jurors for a trial.
Usually when there is a trial, a panel of nine jurors is required. For this case in question, the Registrar gave a list of 65 people to be summoned but only 22 summonses were delivered.
It was only on Monday this week that the 22 people reported to the Court and out of these only four were fit to become jurors.
The Supreme Court gave the police until Monday next week to deliver all the summons so that the case can start.
Mrs Estico also mentioned that up till May 2015 there are five murder cases lined up and 65 people in each case have already been chosen and will be summoned in due time.
In Seychelles, under the Criminal Procedure Code, number 233, it states that: “Any person summoned to attend the Supreme Court as a juror who fails, without reasonable excuse, the burden of proof whereof shall be on him to attend the proceedings as required by the summons and by any subsequent notice issued or order made by the court on adjournment or otherwise until discharged by the court, is liable to imprisonment for three months or to a fine or to both.”
The Registrar underlined that all efforts from the Supreme Court are being put to render a better service but “sometimes we cannot do anything and we are being delayed as we rely on other institutions as well”.
The potential jurors are chosen from a list provided by the Electoral Commission dated 2014 and they are aged 18 to 50. Once the list is finalised, it is published in the Official Gazette and these people can be summoned anytime for a trial.
“Police officers, members of the family of the victims and accused are excused in a trial. Also people with health and religious constraints are excused,” added Mrs Estico.
When a member of the public is chosen as a juror, this person is released from work whenever the trial is ongoing and they are provided with breaks, lunch and dinners and transportation if the case goes till late.
Another issue raised by the Registrar is the code of conduct within the courtroom:
“We are asking the public to dress decently to come to any hearing or trial. The judges and magistrates are now sending people out of the court if they are not dressed properly. No caps/hat, sunglasses, phone or any recording device is allowed inside the courtroom. The police will confiscate the phone and will not return it back if ever someone is caught using their device,” Mrs Estico pointed out.
Previously, whenever the remandee or the convict was on trial, they would ask for five or ten minutes to meet their family members.
“We would like to stress to the family members that this practice will not be allowed anymore. At the Supreme Court we work to deliver justice to the people and it is not a time for visits. The families of the concerned should use their time allowed at the prison. Another practice that will stop is that the prisoner will not be allowed to hold their baby. Through this act we do not know what illegal stuff the prisoner might be getting access to. Only the lawyer will have the right to meet the prisoner in private inside the vicinity of the court,” noted the Registrar.