A new bill has been laid in the Parliament that seeks to ’provide for cases to be tried without a jury where there is the danger of jury tampering’. In addition, the bill, which is meant to amend the Criminal Procedure Act, will also seek to allow ’the court to provide assistance to intimidated witnesses or jurors when giving evidence or deliberating in proceedings respectively’.

The Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Bill 2009, laid yesterday, will require a three-fifths special majority for passage in the House of Representatives and the Senate, which means it will require the support of at least two Senators on either the Opposition or Independent benches for approval in the Upper House.

In addition to the challenges that have allegedly been posed by witness intimidation in certain homicide or drug-related cases in particular, concerns have been raised about the tampering of juries in cases in this country.

The bill will seek to address those concerns by amending existing sections in the act to allow for a witness ’other than the accused person or a juror in criminal proceedings’ to be eligible for assistance under specific conditions

A new section, 38A, defines those conditions, of which the court must be satisfied. They include whether ’the quality of evidence given by the witness is likely to be diminished by reason of fear or distress on the part of the witness in connection with testifying in the proceedings’, allowing a juror to seek the court’s assistance if there is concern that ’the decision of a juror is likely to be adversely affected by reason of fear or distress on the part of the juror in connection with adjudicating in the proceedings’.

The bill states that the court, in determining where witnesses or a jurors are eligible for assistance in this regard, shall take into account all the relevant factors, including any behaviour towards the witness or juror on the part of the ’accused person, members of the family or associates of the accused person or any other person who is likely to be an accused person or a witness in the proceedings’.

The bill specifies that the court can provide assistance by giving a ’direction for the exclusion from the courts or its precincts, during the giving of the witness’s evidence’, any specified person to ensure there is no intimidation of the witness involved.

Similar protection by the court will also be granted to a juror during the hearing of the proceedings once he or she qualifies for this assistance.