KUALA TERENGGANU: The Kuala Terengganu High Court has declared the Magistrate's Court's trial in absentia of Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown as a mistrial.
High Court Judge Datuk Seri Mohd Radzi Harun, in his judgement on Sunday (Dec 14), said that, consequently, the conviction and sentence ordered by the Magistrate Court earlier were set aside.
"As this court had declared a mistrial, the charge against the appellant (Rewcastle-Brown) still subsists, and the criminal principle of autrefois acquit autre convict does not apply in favour of the appellant," he said in his judgment on Sunday.
The principle of autrefois acquit autre convict, otherwise known as double jeopardy, is a legal doctrine which states that a person cannot be prosecuted for the same offence twice.
Mohd Radzi said unless the public prosecutor decides otherwise, he was ordering the case to be mentioned before a new magistrate with a view to a retrial over the same charge.
Mohd Radzi also ordered that the retrial magistrate should re-summon prosecution witnesses and record their evidence in the absence of the appellant.
The prosecution today was conducted by deputy public prosecutors Azizan Abdullah, Mohd Khairuddin Idris and Nor Aishah Mohamad, while Rewcastle-Brown, who was absent, was represented by lawyer Guok Ngek Seong.
On Feb 7, 2024, Rewcastle-Brown was sentenced to two years' jail in absentia by Kuala Terengganu Magistrate's Court after being found guilty of defaming the Sultanah of Terengganu, Sultanah Nur Zahirah, under Section 500 of the Penal Code.
Magistrate Nik Mohd Tarmizie Nik Mohd Shukri ordered that the prison sentence for Rewcastle-Brown, 66, commence on the date of her conviction.
However, Rewcastle-Brown filed a notice of appeal with the Kuala Terengganu High Court seeking to set aside both her conviction and the sentence imposed.
Meanwhile, Ngek Seong, when met by reporters outside the court, said the court had also agreed with the defence's previous submissions, which, among other things, stated that for any criminal charge, the accused must be brought to court to be charged.
"After that, if the accused does not appear before or during the trial, the court will determine whether it is fair or not to proceed in absentia... that is what we raised before," he said.
When asked whether his client would appear at the charges and the retrial of the case at the Magistrate's Court later, Ngek Seong said he was not sure because the matter of extraditing the editor would be difficult, as there is no formal extradition treaty between Malaysia and the United Kingdom. – Bernama
