The Women and Gender Equality Commission has hit out at the recent ruling of acting Chief Justice Ian Chang which deemed paper committals under the Sexual Offences Act (SOA) as unconstitutional.
In late November, Justice Chang ruled in favour of a challenge to the SOA which declared that paper committal procedures under the SOA were in violation of the constitutional rights of an accused.
According to SOA legislation, no witnesses are required to attend the magistrate’s court to give evidence and the magistrate would make a