Unqualified ALS interpreter revealed to have halted Rajvinder Kaur trial

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/unqualified-als-interpreter-revealed-to-have-halted-rajvinder-kaur-trial-7962231.html

20 July 2012

Unqualified ALS interpreter revealed to have halted Rajvinder Kaur trial

A murder trial was halted for a day after an unqualified interpreter - filling in for his wife - could not accurately translate questions from a barrister.

The man turned up at Winchester Crown Court 45 minutes late and concerns were raised after 30 minutes that he was not translating questions into Punjabi properly for a key witness during the trial of mother-of-two Rajvinder Kaur.

He later revealed that his wife - the booked interpreter - was busy and he had come to do her job. He said that he had taken the ALS interpreter test but not received his results.

The judge, Mr Justice Burnett, was forced to halt the trial last Friday, but a similar event happened the following Monday when a female interpreter turned up and was not able to correctly translate evidence, the Southern Daily Echo reported.

The court was able to carrying on sitting on that day with help from Kaur's junior counsel Sukhdev Garcha, who speaks Punjabi and who had raised concerns in both cases.

Both translators were supplied by Applied Language Solutions (ALS), who have been given a Government contract to supply translators to courts.

Judges and court officials across the country have criticised the Ministry of Justice's deal with ALS after stories of translators failing to arrive for trials or unable to accurately interpret proceedings for defendants, witnesses and victims.

Kaur, 37, was yesterday sentenced to life imprisonment and told she would serve a minimum term of 11 years for battering her mother-in-law Baljit Kaur Buttar to death with a rolling pin at her home in Southampton last February.

In a brief statement, ALS said it would not comment on individual cases.

"Any complaints received about interpreters are investigated thoroughly and, where necessary, the interpreter is suspended from working with ALS until the investigation is complete. At that point ALS will either remove them from its register, reinstate them or provide further training, as appropriate," it said.

ALS has claimed its contract, which started formally on February 1, would save the Government £60 million over five years.

But many interpreters said they had boycotted the firm in reaction to low rates of pay, claiming that led to a struggle by ALS to recruit translators, and prompting the use of untrained people in courts.

The company is being monitored daily after failing to meet targets. It was 8% off target from January to April this year, prompting action from the Ministry of Justice.