(Trinidad and Tobago) The time at which an arrested or detained person is to be informed of his/her right to consult with a legal adviser of choice is at a stage before the commencement of ‘in-custody interrogations’.
Lord Keith, in delivering the opinion of the Judicial Committee said:
‘Their Lordships accordingly consider that persons who have been arrested or detained have a constitutional right to be informed of their right to communicate with a legal adviser both upon a proper construction of section 5(2)( h ) of the Constitution of 1976 and on the basis of a settled practice existing when that Constitution was introduced. Davis JA said towards the end of his judgment of the Court of Appeal:
‘I am not prepared to lay down any general rule as to the precise point in time when a person in custody ought to be informed of this right, [but it should be] as early as possible, and in any event before any ‘in-custody interrogation’ takes place.’
Their Lordships would endorse that. It is possible to envisage circumstances where it would not be practicable to inform the person of his right immediately upon his arrest. They would add that it is incumbent upon police officers to see that the arrested person is informed of his right in such a way that he understands it. He may be illiterate, deaf, or unfamiliar with the language. It is plain that the mere exhibition of notices in the police station is insufficient in itself to convey the necessary information.’
Judges:
Keith of Kinkel, Templeman, Griffiths, Ackner, Jauncey of Tullichettle LL
Citations:
[1991] 2 AC 240, [1991] UKPC 16, (1991) 39 WIR 397
Links:
Cited by:
Cited – Simmons and Another v Regina PC 3-Apr-2006
(Bahamas) The appellants challenged admission of confession statements at their trial. A statement was not to be admitted without proof hat it had not been obtained by oppression.
Held: The defendant would have failed in a submission of no . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Commonwealth, Criminal Practice, Constitutional
Updated: 06 July 2022; Ref: scu.241302