Longer jail terms under new Bill

MAGISTRATES will soon have the power to sentence persons to consecutive prison terms up to a maximum of ten years.

This is one of several provisions contained in the Summary Court Amendment (No 3) Bill which was laid in the Senate on Tuesday by Attorney-General Glenda Morean. The Bill’s explanatory note said its purpose is to amend the Summary Courts Act Chap 4:20 “to correct a number of problems in the Magistrates’ Court in relation to summary trials.” Section 72 of the Act allows the powers of the magistrate “to impose consecutive terms of imprisonment to an aggregate of three years.” While Parliament has increased a magistrate’s sentencing power from terms of one or two years to terms of five to ten years, Section 72 “nullifies this extension of power to a magistrate.”

Clause Four of the Bill will delete this section and allow magistrates “to impose consecutive terms of imprisonment, the total of which must not exceed ten years.” Clause Five of the Bill will amend Section 100 of the Act, “to increase the penalty of $4,000 and two years imprisonment under subsection (5) to $20,000 and five years which a magistrate can impose on a person convicted of an indictable offence, as listed in the the Second Schedule of the Act, which he consented to be tried summarily.” Time within which a person may give a notice of appeal will be increased from seven to 14 days under Clause Six while Clause Seven will allow a prisoner who wishes to appeal against the order of a magistrate “to comply within the relevant section of the Act by lodging his notice of appeal and other documents with the Commissioner of Prisons within the prescribed period.”  Clause Nine will delete Section 150 (2) of the Act and substitute a new section “to provide for the computation of the term of sentence imposed, varied or affirmed by the Court of Appeal to be served by an unsuccessful appellant, whether or not he is in custody on the date of the order of the Court of Appeal.” Under this clause, “in the case where he is not in prison, his sentence shall start from the date he is actually in prison; and where he is in prison, from the date he is actually in prison, or such other date as the Court of Appeal decides.” Clause Ten will validate all appeals filed by appellants in custody pursuant to Section 130 of the Act but were out of time and pending, prior to commencement of the Act.