Magistrates’ courts now sitting on weekends

Midlands Correspondent
MagistrateS’   courts    are   now   sitting    on Saturdays to avoid infringing on accused persons’ rights   by   over   detaining   them,   an   official   said yesterday. A Judiciary Service Commission (JSC) official who requested not to be named said the development was in line with the new constitution which protects the accused person from being kept in detention for more than two days from the day of initial arrest.

“The new constitution is very clear on issues  to   do    with   human   rights   and   it   is   now   an offence for the   police   to   detain    a    person    for    more     than   two    days   without    sending    the    suspect    to    the    courts.

“The suspects now have the right to sue for unlawful detention and the judiciary and the police are trying to avoid this,” said the official.
The official said the police recently approached the JSC to map out ways of avoiding situations  where suspects would sue them for unlawful detention.

“It was then agreed by stakeholders that all the magistrates’ courts should, with effect from 1 August 2013, operate on Saturdays so that they deal with cases involving suspects arrested on Friday. In the past, the suspects would wait to appear in court on Monday,” said the official.

The official said the magistrates were doing holiday duties on rotational basis.
“The JSC is trying to make sure that there are no circumstances when suspects would sue for over detention,” said the official.
The official said the development was also going to reduce the backlog of cases before the courts.

“The arrangement is that every Saturday and on public holidays, there should be at least one magistrate on duty at all magistrate courts to hear new cases. If there are no new cases received, the magistrate would deal with pending cases, thereby clearing the backlog,” said the official.

Chief Magistrate, Mr Mishrod Guvamombe, yesterday confirmed that the magistrates’ courts were now operating on weekends.
He, however, declined to shed more light into the matter, saying that his office does not entertain journalists over the phone.