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Mohit v. The Director of Public Prosecutions of Mauritius (Mauritius)

Mohit v. The Director of Public Prosecutions of Mauritius (Mauritius)

Case [2006] UKPC 20 25 April 2006

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Mohit v. The Director of Public Prosecutions of Mauritius (Mauritius) [2006] UKPC 20 (25 April 2006)

Privy Council Appeal No 31 of 2005

Jeewan Mohit Appellant

v.

The Director of Public Prosecutions of Mauritius Respondent

FROM

THE SUPREME COURT OF MAURITIUS

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JUDGMENT OF THE LORDS OF THE JUDICIAL

COMMITTEE OF THE PRIVY COUNCIL

Delivered the 25th April 2006

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Present at the hearing:-

Lord Bingham of Cornhill

Lord Hoffmann

Lord Hope of Craighead

Lord Carswell

Lord Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood

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[Delivered by Lord Bingham of Cornhill]

The issue in this appeal is whether a decision by the Director of Public Prosecutions of Mauritius to discontinue a private prosecution, in exercise of his powers under section 72(3)(c) of the 1968 Constitution, is in principle susceptible to review by the courts. In a judgment given on 30 September 2003 the Supreme Court (YKJ Yeung Sik Yuen and P Lam Shang Leen JJ) held that it was not, and on a repeat application by the appellant this decision was applied by K P Matadeen and P Balgobin JJ on 14 September 2004. The appellant challenges the correctness of these rulings.

The appellant is a private citizen of Mauritius. He has expressed concern at what he has called "the rising tide of crimes and the breakdown in law and order" in Mauritius, and in particular at what he sees as the failure of successive governments to address a rash of violent crimes committed by a gang of criminals in 1996, culminating in a notorious triple murder. Implicated in at least some of these crimes was one Mahmad Bissessur, who was arrested in December 2000 and in that month confessed to committing a number of very serious crimes in April and May 1996. In October 2001 Bissessur was charged with five criminal offences to which, in the following month, he pleaded guilty. He was sentenced to 6 years' penal servitude and a fine of Rs 3,000.

The Hon Paul Berenger has at all material times been a very senior political figure in Mauritius, holding office at different times as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of External Affairs, Leader of the Opposition and, currently, Prime Minister and Minister of Finance. In February 2001 Bissessur gave a statement to the police in which he said that Mr Berenger had given him money (cheques for Rs 20,000 and Rs 10,000 and Rs 5,000 in cash) during the first week of August 1997 to buy air tickets from Mauritius to Madagascar; that he had flown with his family to Madagascar on 10 August 1997; that Mr Berenger had sent him more money by bank transfer on 13 August 1997; that he had received a further fax from Mr Berenger on…

Grounds of appeal

[14] The appellant contends that the primary judge erred in finding that the respondent had discharged the onus of establishing the matters required under the relevant provision.

[15] It was submitted that his Honour failed to give adequate weight to the evidence of the second witness, and that the findings of fact were not reasonably open on the material before the Court.

[16] The respondent, for its part, submits that no error is disclosed, and that the conclusions reached were well within the range of outcomes available to the primary judge.

Consideration

[17] It is convenient to deal first with the question of construction, as the resolution of that issue informs the remaining grounds advanced by the appellant.

[18] For the reasons that follow, we are of the view that the appeal should be allowed in part and the matter remitted for further determination.

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Details

Case: [2006] UKPC 20
Decision Date