HIGH court judge Justice Maxwell Takuva yesterday said magistrates should always consider the need to reform and rehabilitate criminals as opposed to just imposing retributive sentences, especially on petty crimes.
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Officially opening the Gweru High Court Circuit, Justice Takuva slammed the unjustified delays in dealing with criminal matters at the lower courts.
He accused magistrates of imposing unnecessarily stiff penalties on offenders covicted of petty crimes when the trend worldwide was moving towards non-custodial sentences.
“It should be noted that the worldwide trend is towards non-custodial sentencing.
“However, from review of records submitted to the High Court (in) Harare and Bulawayo, a disturbing trend has developed whereby magistrates throughout the country impose custodial sentences for petty cases of assault and/ or theft,” he said.
“A perusal of these records reveals that the court would have lost sight of the need for a rational approach to sentencing, which calls for reformative and rehabilitative sentencing as opposed to retributive sentencing in a case where a fine or community service could have met the justice of the case.”
He also implored magistrates countrywide to ensure criminal cases and trials were conducted within a reasonable time as delays would be detrimental to the mental and physical health of accused persons. The judge said he was worried, especially because most of the delays in bringing finality to criminal matters were largely due to administrative incompetence.
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“In some cases, delays are caused by administrative inertia or incompetence. It is advised that magistrates conduct monthly checks of criminal records in order to ensure that outstanding matters do not escape their attention,” he said.
Justice Takuva also had no kind words for lawyers saying they should behave in an honourable manner and not as charlatans in the eyes of the public. He warned lawyers who dumped clients in mid-trial that they risked being charged with misconduct by the courts because the courts would no longer accept such behaviour.
