Opening the Door to Fickle-minded Guilty Pleas? - Public Prosecutor v Dinesh s/o Rajantheran [2019] 1 SLR 1289

Abstract

Unlike applications to retract guilty pleas, accused persons are not required to provide valid and sufficient reasons when qualifying their guilty pleas in mitigation. In Criminal Reference No. 5 of 2018, the Court of Appeal held that section 228(4) of the Criminal Procedure Code allows accused persons to qualify their guilty pleas in mitigation to the extent that it amounts to a retraction of their guilty pleas unless there is an abuse of the court’s process. This comment considers the desirability of the current law and suggests that the law applying to such withdrawals of guilty pleas should be amended.

Keywords: Criminal Law, Penal Code, Guilty Pleas, Withdrawal