TZL v QPS

The case of TZL v QPS involved an appeal against a sentence, specifically concerning an error in the pre-sentence custody declaration. The appellant, TZL, was sentenced to 10 months imprisonment by a Magistrate on 6 January 2015. The error arose from the Magistrate incorrectly stating the dates of the appellant’s pre-sentence custody and failing to declare the 11 days spent in custody from 27 December 2014 until 6 January 2015 as time served on the sentence. The appeal was brought to correct this error through the process of re-opening the sentence.

The legal issues before the court included whether the error in the pre-sentence custody declaration was significant enough to warrant the reopening of the sentence and, if so, what the appropriate correction should be. The court needed to determine whether the sentence should be altered solely on the basis of this error and, if so, what the appropriate adjustment to the sentence should be.

The court found that while the error was significant, it did not warrant a complete reopening of the sentence. However, the court did determine that the sentence should be reduced from 10 months to 6 months to account for the pre-sentence custody time that should have been declared as time served. The court also ordered that the pre-sentence custody declaration should be varied to include the 11 days spent in custody from 27 December 2014 until 6 January 2015 as time served on the sentence.

Accordingly, the court allowed the appeal, varied the sentence to reduce the term of imprisonment from 10 months to 6 months, and declared the 11 days of pre-sentence custody as time served on the sentence.