THIRD SUBMISSION : TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF BAIL

Bail in non-bailable offences is at the discretion of the court. It is not to be granted

automatically in every cases but there are number of factors that the court takes into
consideration in the exercise of its discretion.
There is no mandatory requirement in the law that an application for bail must be in writing.
Pertaining to our situation, it is totally on the deliberation of judge to consider the availability
of bail for the three of the accused.
The court can consider to grant the bail even if made by the accused or his counsel orally. As
it may be refered to the the case of Public Prosecutor v Dato Seri Anwar Bin Ibrahim
[1998] 4 MLJ 481:
For the court to give the contemplation upon granting a bail, there are twelve factors
listed as a consideration in Mallals Criminal Procedure Code:
1. Whether there was or was not reasonable grounds for believing accused is
2.
3.
4.
5.

guilty of the offence.

Nature and gravity of the offence charged.
Nature of evidence in support of the charge.
Security and degree of punishment that conviction may entail.
Guarantee that when released on bail, the accused will not abscond or

obstruct prosecution in any way.

6. Danger of the offence being continued or repeated.
7. Danger of a witness being tampered with the accused.
8. Accused, if on bail, is likely to tamper with prosecution evidence.
9. Accused likely to set up false evidence in support of his evidence.
10. Opportunity for accused to prepare his defence.
11. Character, means and standing of the accused.
12. Long period of detention and probability of further period of delay.
Thus, it is material for the court to consider all the factors listed as the court thinks fit to the
case in hand.

It needs to put into consideration that the first accused has a breast cancer, ten children to be
taken care of and a husband with strock. Plus, we believe that the proper treatment is not
available in the place of the detention. Considering the status that the first accused is a mother

with another eight children who are still dependant on her as well as the second and third
accused are also the bread winner to the family. The second and third accused also need to be
released on bail because if there will not be able to help the family and nobody will take care
of their family.
The principle and basis of our criminal law is that the accused are presumed to be innocent
until proven guilty. As in the case of Soo Shiok Liong v Public Prosecutor [1993] 2 MLJ
381, bail is not intended to be punitive but only to secure the attendance of the accused at the
trial. The amount of bail may vary according to the circumstances even on similar value of the
subject matter of the charge. The rationale of the case is, a vague and general allegation that
the accused if released, would suborn or intimidate witnesses or tamper with evidence or try
to obtain false evidence in support of his defence, is not a sound reason for refusing bail. Bail
is not to be refused merely on the basis of allegations about it.
Their surrender of their international passport should go to the consideration as well. The fact
that the three accused had presented themselves and had co-operated have shown the sense
that there is no danger of the accused absconding or leaving the jurisdiction. It is an important
factor to be considered in favour of the accused when assessing an application for bail.
As in the case of Yusof bin Mohamed v Public Prosecutor [1995] 3 MLJ 66, various other
considerations which may arise in the case such as the propensity, the tendency or likelihood
of the accused participating in the commission of further offences, or his proximate like
attitude, conduct or tendency towards matters, persons or things around him, or in connection
with or in relation to the case at hand.
The three accused really need to be released on bail as Rokiah need to undergo weekly
treatment as well chemotherapy and at the same time to give her commitment as she is a
mother of ten with a strock husband. In addition, the two men, sons of the first accused, are
the bread winner of the family and the first accused is really dependant on the other accused.
There is no tendency or likelihood of the three accused to participate in the commission of
further offences as they testified that they were not proven guilty yet.
Therefore, as the counsels for the accused, we plead for bail of the three accused and we plead
for a very minimal amount of bail that will be imposed by the court to maximum of RM5000
each instead of RM15,000 as suggested by the prosecution.