Tuesday 2 May 2023

Eyes on the court – CourtWatch comes to London

https://www.transformjustice.org.uk/news-insight/eyes-on-the-court-courtwatch-comes-to-london/

2 May 2023

[…] One case sticks in my mind from a visit to a Norfolk magistrates’ court in 2019. A Lithuanian man, held in police custody all weekend for driving offences, had his morning hearing delayed while the clerk searched for an interpreter. The hours ticked by until 4pm when the clerk came off the phone saying that apparently the defendant can suddenly speak English. This miracle wasn’t questioned. The hearing went ahead with the man appearing by video link because it was too late to bring him to court. He was sent to prison for 18 weeks and when the screen turned off one of the magistrates said “hopefully he understood”. […]

 

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