Johor starts night court to hear street crime cases

04 March 2010 , By The Star

The night court has started operations at the Sessions Court here to handle cases relating to street crime.

Johor prosecution unit head Umar Saifuddin said night court operations officially started on Monday.

“We received a letter from the Palace of Justice on Feb 25 relating to the matter and have put two deputy public prosecutors on standby,” he said.

Night court proceedings would be conducted from 5.30pm to 9.30pm, he added.

“For now, we have started court proceedings on a rotational basis and each night one court would be opened for cases. This is part of a pilot project to gauge the effectiveness of night courts before implementing it nationwide,” he said when contacted by The Star.

Besides Johor Baru, night courts have started in Penang, Selangor and Kuala Lumpur to hear cases related to street crime, especially snatch theft and unarmed robbery.

Umar said although night courts can speed up the hearing process, increasing the number of magistrates and court staff would also help.

Night court registrar Hairul Azhar said: “Once more people become aware of night courts, the cases will start coming in.”

Hairul said currently, the investigating officer would inform him of a case so that he would be able to prepare the courtroom.

“Once there is a case, the court interpreter, judge and DPP will be informed,” he said, adding that court policemen have also been placed on night duty to assist with proceedings.

Night court proceedings were previously implemented in 2007 to hear traffic cases but were discontinued due to poor response.