Committal proceedings in trials on indictment in Ghana: Its relevance in contemporary times

Source: Gloria Teye

INTRODUCTION

There are two possible forms of trial for any person who has been charged with a criminal offence in Ghana. A trial may be done summarily or upon Indictment.

Trials on Indictment are the only form of trial where committal proceedings are conducted. Generally trials on Indictment are reserved for more serious offences and are characterized by more formality. Some offences which may be tried on Indictment include Rape, Murder and Manslaughter.[i] Whereas summary trials are conducted by District Courts and Circuit Courts, trials on Indictment are conducted by the High Court[ii].

Committal Proceedings are special proceedings vested in the District Court and not necessarily part of its general jurisdiction. It can essentially be described as a preliminary enquiry into a case brought before the Court that does not constitute part of the substantive trial to be conducted at the High Court although it is a necessary precondition for any such trial on Indictment.[iii]The trial of a case on Indictment must therefore necessarily begin with the committal of the case by the District Court.

It must be noted that Committal proceedings are not peculiar to Ghana. In fact it is a practice widely adopted in most Common Law countries whose legal systems largely are adaptations of the English Legal systems. In this vein it will be important to examine its beginnings in the English legal system.

THE EVOLUTION OF COMMITTAL PROCEEDINGS IN ENGLAND

Historically the requirement for each person charged with a criminal offence in England and Wales to make his first appearance in the Magistrates Court prompted laying down a procedure in place to transfer the more serious offences to the Crown Court. This took place by way of Committal Proceedings which offered an accused person the opportunity in theory to challenge the case against him before it reached the more serious arena of the Crown Court. In practice however, challenges rarely took place[iv].

With time, however, the perceived inefficiency and expense of committal proceedings have led to their abolition.

Committal hearings were first abolished for indictable only offences which have to be heard at the Crown Court because of their seriousness in 2001 in Britain. By November 2012, Committal hearings had been abolished in local justice areas serving 33 Crown Courts. This was eventually extended to the remaining 60 Crown Court locations across Britain. Further in May 2013, committal hearings were abolished for either way offences (offences which could be dealt with either at the magistrate’s court or the Crown Court depending on the seriousness of the individual case).

On the back of this significant move, then Justice Minister Damian Green noted that ‘Abolishing Committal hearings is another one of the reforms we are taking forward to make justice respond more quickly and effectively for victims, witnesses and taxpayers.’[v]

THE FORM OF COMMITTAL PROCEEDINGS AT THE DISTRICT COURT IN GHANA

As has already been noted committal proceedings are special proceedings and therefore the hearing and determination of those proceedings are regulated by Part IV of The Criminal Procedure Act, 1960 Act 30.[vi]

Before the day of the Committal Proceedings, the prosecution is required to furnish the Court and the accused person with a bill of Indictment and a Summary of trial. The Bill of Indictment is to comply with sections 201 and 202 of Act 30 as to form and content. Sections 201 and 202 of Act 30 provide a template on how the form and content of a Bill of Indictment should take.[vii]

The Bill of Indictment to be served on the Court and the accused person contains the statement of offence and the particulars of offence the accused is to face at the High Court. With regards to the Summary of Evidence, it contains a list of witnesses the Prosecution proposes to call at the hearing plus a summary of their evidence. Where the Prosecution intends to tender any form of physical or documentary evidence it is also attached to the Summary of Evidence and tendered at the Committal stage.

This is to offer the accused person in advance notice of the case of the Prosecution against him or her.

In the case of State v Bisa [1965] GLR 757 Sowah J stated the duty of the magistrate in a committal proceeding in the following manner: ‘He is to examine the summary of evidence and decide whether the charge is maintainable…It was not the duty of the magistrate to decide whether the prosecution had made out a prima facie case for the accused to answer as that was the province of the trial court after the close of the oral testimony given on behalf of the prosecution.’

Before deciding to commit the accused person to stand trial at the High Court the magistrate is enjoined by section 187 of Act 30 to address the accused person with some specific or other such similar words to the effect that the accused person is not obliged to say anything in answer to the charge but may offer an explanation if he so wishes. Where the accused person decides to say something, whatever he says will be taken down in writing and may be given in evidence against him if he is committed for trial.

The committing court is also required to refer the accused person to the option of pleading Alibi[viii].By this, the accused person is to give necessary notice of the alibi including particulars as to time, place and witnesses by whom it is proposed to be proved although he may not yet be able to give the names of witnesses to prove it. Where an accused person pleads or intends to plead alibi he is essentially saying that at the time of the commission of the crime he was not present at the crime scene where the offence occurred. That explains why the accused person will have to provide particulars of the names of witnesses and particulars of where he was to show that he was not at the crime scene.

After the close of the Committal Proceedings if the accused person is committed to stand trial at the High Court, the Registrar of the District Court transmits the record of the Proceedings together with the exhibits to the High Court for trial to commence.

If the District Court on the other hand is of the opinion that there is not a case to answer it shall discharge the accused person but it shall not be a bar to a subsequent charge in respect of the same facts.[ix]

It is to be noted that per the Practice Direction (Determination of Bail and Consequential Matters)2019[x] the District Magistrate is to remand the accused person into custody at this stage.

THE ESSENCE OF COMMITTAL PROCEEDINGS

The form and structure of the Committal Proceedings as described above suggest that it is not entirely an unuseful process. It has been argued that the process was to afford the accused person the opportunity to know beforehand the nature of the charge against him as well as the evidence that was up against him thereby enabling him to prepare adequately in defence of himself.

In contemporary times however much doubt has been cast on the relevance of Committal Proceedings.

It has been argued that the disadvantages of the committal process far outweigh its present usefulness.

Some have noted that the Committal Proceedings unnecessarily delay the entire trial process. As has already been noted, before the process the Bill of Indictment has to be prepared by the prosecution and served on the accused person. In some cases, the District Court may have to procure the services of an interpreter where the accused person speaks a language that an interpreter is not readily available. After the Committal Proceedings itself the District Court must transmit the proceedings and exhibits to the trial High Court.

All of the above processes take time and lends credence to the argument that the committal proceedings delay the trial of the accused person and leads to an unnecessary duplication of efforts.

This is especially so in the light of recent developments and inroads into the Criminal Justice system. With the inception of the Practice Direction (Disclosures and Case Management in Criminal Proceedings) in 2018 many Practitioners have called for the end of the era of Committal Proceedings.

The Pretrial Process at the High Court as prescribed by the Practise Direction on Disclosures and Case Management involves disclosure of Documents in the custody of the Prosecution. This relates to all relevant documents and items the Prosecution intends to rely on at the trial.[xi]It will immediately be observed that this will include the Bill of Indictment and the Summary of Evidence that at this stage would have been already served on the accused person long before the committal proceedings at the District Court. The Disclosures are to be served before a process known as the Case Management Conference.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion it must be emphasized that in this era of Disclosures, no form of injustice will be occasioned to accused persons if Committal Proceedings are done away with since the Disclosures will afford all accused persons the chance to know beforehand what case the Republic will put up against them.

Accused persons will therefore still have all the opportunity to arm themselves with any defense they may have to whatever charges they are faced with.

Further accused persons will be guaranteed a much quicker trial process as the time to be spent by Prosecutors in preparing for the Committal Proceedings and the Committal Proceedings itself will be done away with and rather devoted to the trial itself.

*The Author is a State Attorney with the Office of the Attorney General and Ministry of Justice.*

[i] See Section 2 of the Criminal Procedure Act,1960 Act 30.

[ii] See Section 2(4) of Act 30.

[iii] See Section 44 (1) of Act 30.

[iv] Aloys Rugazia, University of Bagamayo (2013) Committal Proceedings accelerating time or time Consuming.

[v] See www.gov.uk

[vi] See Section 181 of Act 30

[vii] See Section 182 of Act 30.

[viii]See Section 131 of Act 30.

[ix] See Section 184 (5) of Act 30.

[x] See page 2 of Practise Direction(Determination of Bail and Consequential Matters)2019

[xi] See Practice Direction(Disclosures and Case Management in Criminal Proceedings)