Pendakwa Raya v SUCHAT TOHDIN

Case Significance

Illustrates the circumstances in which charges against different accused, arising from the same offence, transaction, time and witnesses, may properly be joined for a single trial under subsection 170(1) of the Criminal Procedure Code, provided the application is made bona fide and without prejudice to the accused.

This High Court decision concerns an application by the prosecution to have a criminal case tried jointly with four other criminal cases, and the principles governing the joinder of charges and accused for a single trial. The accused faced a charge of an offence under section 26A of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007. The Deputy Public Prosecutor, having reviewed the investigation papers and the charge sheets for all five cases, applied orally for the accused's case to be tried together with four other cases against four other accused. The defence counsel for the accused objected, while the counsel for the other four accused and an observer from the Bar Council did not. The court examined the basis for the application and was satisfied, on the prosecution's explanation and confirmation, that the charges against the accused and the four other accused in all five cases involved the same offence under section 26A, the same date and time, the same transaction and the same fifteen witnesses. On that footing, and applying subsection 170(1) of the Criminal Procedure Code together with the settled law on joint trials, the court considered it just and proper that the five cases be tried together. It also found that the application had been made bona fide on the facts disclosed in the investigation and charge papers, and that there was no evidence that it had been made in bad faith or that it would prejudice or cause injustice to the accused or the other accused. Accordingly, the court allowed the prosecution's application for a joint trial, and the accused appealed against that decision. The judgment is a useful illustration of the circumstances in which charges against different accused, arising from the same transaction and involving the same evidence, may properly be joined for a single trial under section 170(1) of the Criminal Procedure Code.