Former Chief Magistrate and attorney-at-law K.A. Juman-Yassin S.C. says that there are many factors which a court has to consider in determining whether or not a person is granted their pre-trial liberty.
What is sure he said, however, is that, as the law currently stands, it is the magistrate who has the discretion to grant bail and that it must be accepted that in the exercise of that function, they will act within the confines of the law, unless the contrary is proved.
Just recently, the decision of a city magistrate to grant bail to four men charged with unlawful possession of guns and ammunition, came in for sharp criticism from Attorney General Anil Nandlall SC, who said it sent the wrong message.