Lawyers voice hopes for new prosecutions chief
Criminal lawyers yesterday said they hoped the appointment of a new director of public prosecutions would herald a period of new ideas and change, as well as greater dialogue on criminal-justice issues.
When Ian McWalters SC takes on his new role this month, he will be only the second person to have held the post since the handover. He is replacing Grenville Cross SC, who will have served the Department of Justice for 31 years. At 58, McWalters has two years until he reaches ordinary retirement age.
Clive Grossman SC said: 'Ian is an extremely good choice - very well thought of from all sectors of the legal community ... There has been a morale problem in the department for various reasons, and I believe that his appointment in itself will do a lot towards improving that.'
He said there was already a good dialogue between McWalters and barristers in private practice.
The director of the University of Hong Kong's Centre for Comparative and Public Law, Professor Simon Young, said the role of director of public prosecutions was no ordinary civil service task, as it involved a function specifically laid down in the Basic Law to 'control criminal prosecutions, free from any interference'.
'He has a difficult job,' he said, noting the many changes in criminal justice, which would affect how McWalters would have to manage and train existing prosecutors as well as attract top legal minds to become prosecutors.
In recent weeks, practitioners of criminal law have called for increased debate on Hong Kong's conviction rate, the reliability of immunised witnesses, and the lack of jury trials in the District Court, where defendants can still be jailed for seven years.
Andrew Powner, a solicitor for law firm Haldanes, said he could already see greater debate on these issues, and expected McWalters to take discussions further.
Law Society president Wong Kwai-huen said he hoped McWalters would 'give input' to all of these issues as well as improve transparency of prosecution decision-making.
Young said McWalters should start by meeting his colleagues within the division, as well as professionals in private practice, to listen to opinions on what needed to be changed.
Grossman said he was confident McWalters would change anything he thought needed it.
