Judge calls for all court proceedings to be audio recorded

A judge has called for all judicial proceedings to be audio recorded even in summary cases.

The issue was raised by Judge Giovanni Grixti in a court of appeal judgment upholding a man’s conviction for failing to issue VAT receipts at a carnival stall in 2016.

In the judgment handed down on 30 January, the court pointed out that in principle, appellate courts did not disturb the discretion of those of first instance as long as the conclusions are reached in a legal and reasonable manner.

“But there is an exception to this principle when the appeal is from summary or district cases. This is because in such cases, testimony is not transcribed. Therefore, this court must re-hear the evidence produced before the first court in its entirety,” the judge said.

Quoting from a 2014 judgment by the court of appeal, Grixti wrote that “in such cases, it could be that a witness does not say the exact same words as had been said before the first court, and this inexactitude could change the entire appeal…Therefore, the evaluation of evidence produced before this court is rather subjective because of the fact that there is no transcription of the evidence at first instance.”

What happens in practise is that the testimony is transcribed at the appeal stage, noted the court. “In the humble opinion of the Court, this problem could be resolved by having all sittings before the courts of magistrates recorded and a transcription made only when necessary, including therefore, cases where the case goes to the appeal stage.”

This would save precious time for all involved and allow the appeal stage to truly serve as a stage of revision and not for re-hearing of evidence, he said.