The defendant appealed against his conviction. Though unrepresented at trial, the judge had not informed him of his opportunity to call witnesses. Counsel had failed to attend and an adjournment has been refused.
Held: The appeal succeeded. A trial court must inform an unrepresented accused of his constitutional entitlement to the facilities both to examine witnesses for the prosecution and to call his own witnesses and to facilitate the process in that behalf.
Lord Parker of Waddington CJ said: ‘it became imperative to ensure that this appellant, who was unrepresented, had every opportunity of putting forward his defence, calling his witnesses, and for that purpose, the court should have given him every assistance.’ and ‘the appellant, unrepresented as he was did not in the result have a fair trial, and . . it would be wrong in this case to apply the proviso.’
Judges:
Lord Parker of Waddington CJ
Citations:
[1960] 44 Cr App R 225
Cited by:
Cited – Leslie Tiwari v The State (Appeal No 76 of 2001) PC 29-May-2002
(Trinidad and Tobago) The defendant appealed convictions for rape and other offences based upon identification evidence. He had not been represented at the trial. He had not been warned of his freedom to call witnesses.
Held: Where a defendant . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Criminal Practice
Updated: 29 April 2022; Ref: scu.183102