A 13-year-old schoolboy appeared before the Court of Appeal today, no parent, no guardian, no social worker and no attorney, to be accused of incest. The appeal comes from the DPP Kirk Anderson who appeared to ask the court to allow him to re-instate the charge of incest against the boy.
He asked for the appeal because in January Justice Adolph Lucas threw out the case, saying that the young man didn't have the maturity to understand the charge against him. Lucas further warned that to bring back the case would be an abuse of the process. But the DPP wasn't convinced and he took the case to the Court of Appeal where the highest court in the land again frowned upon the action. But the judges frowned not on the merits of the case, but the circumstances under which it came to court.
Holding a thick file that was handed to him when he came into the court, the teenager told the court he has no lawyer and that he was appearing without an adult. The court then refused to hear the action without the accused being legally represented or without a guardian present. With that, the case was adjourned to a later date. The young man was 12 years old at the time he is alleged to have committed the act of incest.