Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
| Published date | 01 November 1990 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002201839005400404 |
| Date | 01 November 1990 |
| Subject Matter | Judicial Committee of the Privy Council |
House
of
Lords
JUDICIAL
COMMITTEE
OF
THE
PRIVY
COUNCIL
SIMILAR INDICTMENTS IN DIFFERENT COURTS
Da Costa v. The Queen
Where a person is accused of an offence (or offences), may the
prosecution bring forward a series of indictments in several
different courts?
If
so, may the accused be convicted on one of
those indictments, while the others are outstanding? In Da Costa
v. The Queen
[1990]
2W.L.R. 1182, the appellant was convicted
of shooting with intent and wounding with intent and illegal
possession of a firearm. The record of the procedural path by
which he came to trial only "dimly illuminated" that path, so that
the Judicial Committee, before whom an ultimate appeal was
heard, had to obtain a"clearer light" from inferences drawn from
the relevant legislation. There was a first indictment on two of the
charges before the circuit court, following committal proceedings
before the resident magistrate. The case was mentioned several
times and adjourned in the circuit court. There was then an
indictment put forward on behalf of the D.P.P. in the High Court
Division of the Gun Court, which was followed by another
indictment before that court, which was tried before a judge sitting
alone in camera and on which he has convicted and sentenced to
four years' imprisonment at hard labour. The gist of his appeal
was that what had happened was procedurally impossible as a
matter of law. What he was really complaining of was that the
procedure which had been followed meant that he was tried in
camera by a judge without a jury, instead of by a judge with a
jury in public, which is what would have happened if the original
indictment which was before the circuit court on several occasions
had been proceeded with. The Court of Appeal upheld the
conviction on the ground that section 94(3) of the Jamaican
Constitution empowers the
D.P.P.,
in any case in which he thinks
it desirable, to institute and undertake criminal proceedings against
any person before any court (other than a court martial) in respect
479
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