Page 562 - Magistrates Conference 2019

an unjustifiable delay on the prosecution’s part, (with respect to bringing a case to trial), the
court will stay the proceedings.

The delay in prosecuting the case can either be in charging or trying the defendant. In the

Trinidadian case: Dularie Peters v The State Cr. App. No.34 of 2008 , the Court of Appeal
stated that the court should not grant a stay of prosecution for the purpose of punishing the

State for its “deleteriousness”. The prosecutorial fault of itself cannot justify a stay and the
prejudicial effect on the fairness of the trial must still be determined. This was supported in

Tan v Cameron [1992] 2 AC 205

In relation to the latter category, the court is concerned with maintaining the integrity of the
criminal justice system, therefore, where the prosecution misused or manipulated the court’s

process or acted unfairly so as to deprive a defendant the court’s protection, a stay will be
granted.

This will be done where the court believes that in all circumstances, a trial will be counter to
the court’s sense of fairness and propriety or will undermine the confidence of the public in

the criminal justice system or discredit it. Bennet v Horseferry Road Magistrate’s Court ex p

Bennet (1993) 3 All ER 138; R v Latif and Shahzad (1996) 2 Cr App R 92, HL

Right to a fair trial

The right to a fair trial is enshrined in the various territories Constitution except for Trinidad

and Tobago:

Antigua and Barbuda Constitutional Order 1981 section 6; The Barbados Constitution
section 18(1); Belize Constitution 1981 section 5(3); Grenada section 4(5),; Guyana: The

Constitution of the Co-operative of the Republic of Guyana Act, CAP 1:01, section 144(13);
St. Kitts and Nevis Constitution Order 1983 section 5 (5); St. Lucia Constitutional Order

1978 section 8; St. Vincent and the Grenadines: Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Constitution 1979, section 8(1)

The protection of the law requires that a hearing be held within a “reasonable time”, though it

may not be possible to be exact as to the particular period. What is reasonable though
depends on all the relevant circumstances including the length of the delay, the reasons given

by the prosecution to justify the delay, the efforts made by the defendant to assert his rights,