Interpreter fiasco at murder trial (From Daily Echo)
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Interpreter fiasco at murder trial
11:04am Friday 20th July 2012 in News
Exclusive By Jenny Makin, Crime Reporter
Winchester Crown Court
A MURDER trial had to be halted temporarily when a man translating vital evidence revealed he was only there because his wife – the real interpreter – was too busy.
The judge suspended the case when it became clear that Mubarak Lone was failing to translate key phrases fully and even got the oath wrong for a Sikh witness who was giving evidence.
It was only thanks to a junior defence barrister, who happened to speak Punjabi, that the problem was spotted.
Following an investigation it was discovered Mr Lone was not qualified or registered.
The fiasco can only be reported today following the conclusion of the trial of mum-of-two Rajvinder Kaur, who was yesterday sentenced to life with a minimum term of 11 years in prison , for battering her mother-in-law to death with a rolling pin.
The debacle – which delayed the case by a day, costing tens of thousands of pounds – is the latest in a long line of problems at courts across the country since the Government awarded the interpreter contract to Applied Language Solutions (ALS) in a bid to save £18m.
There have already been thousands of complaints about interpreters provided by the firm, who either turn up late, fail to appear or are not up to the job.
Now a high profile Government committee is launching an inquiry into the awarding of the contract which has brought chaos to courtrooms throughout England.
The latest problem arose at Winchester Crown Court last Friday, shortly after Mr Lone, who turned up 45 minutes late causing the trial to be delayed, was sworn in.
When he attempted to translate the oath to a Sikh witness he got it wrong.
Then, while translating for Kaur’s husband Iqbal Singh as he took the stand to give evidence concerning his mother’s murder, Mr Lone went on to omit key words and phrases.
After repeated failed attempts by defence barrister Jonathan Fuller QC to have his questions asked correctly, the judge, Mr Justice Barnett, stopped the trial.
In the absence of the jury, Mr Lone admitted his wife had been contracted by ALS to act as a translator, but she already had work commitments so he went in her place.
He went on to say he had taken the interpreter test set by ALS but had not received his results and was not accredited.
Describing the situation, Mr Justice Barnett told the court: “This is extremely unfortunate, to use a classic understatement.”
However that wasn’t the end of the matter.
When the trial recommenced on Monday morning a similar situation unfolded when a new female interpreter from ALS arrived – but once again she was not able to correctly translate words and phrases.
The case was only able to continue with the assistance of Kaur’s junior counsel, Sukhdev Garcha.
Mr Garcha told the Daily Echo: “I couldn’t believe the first interpreter was so woefully inadequate and then it happened again with the second who was completely out of her depth. She didn’t understand a lot of words and phrases and her vocabulary was completely lacking.
“If I hadn’t spoken up then people in the court would have thought everything was being interpreted correctly.
“It would have been to the detriment of our client – we could have had a miscarriage of justice. That’s the price you pay.”
Defence barrister Jonathan Fuller QC added: “It’s at the very heart of the justice system because the words are the evidence. If you find, as a defence counsel, that you are calling evidence on words that are unreliable then that is the start of a miscarriage of justice.”
Mr Justice Barnett declined to comment further.
Comments(21)
Ted Rogers
says...
12:04pm Fri 20 Jul 12
mrblunt
says...
12:12pm Fri 20 Jul 12
This ALS is giving accreditations to people who are way below the expected standard of a translator.
Take the contract away from them and give it to a reputable company of translators
I hope the junior barrister got the interpreters fee for his work !!!
Costa Baz
says...
12:33pm Fri 20 Jul 12
mrblunt wrote:Unfortunately the interpreters ARE making it up.
You couldn't make it up.
This ALS is giving accreditations to people who are way below the expected standard of a translator.
Take the contract away from them and give it to a reputable company of translators
I hope the junior barrister got the interpreters fee for his work !!!
By rewording questions and answers they are distorting them and should be on a contempt of court or perversion of justice charge.
Maybe if a few of them were put in a cell for 24 hours ALS may grow a conscience. But then again, probably not.
Regarding costs. If this is costing "tens of thousands of pounds" through delays caused by not having the right interpreter, and there have already been "thousands of complaints", how are the government saving 18 million pound????
Paramjit Bahia
says...
1:07pm Fri 20 Jul 12
If his wife conspired for this plot to deceive the court, example should be made out of her as well.
G4S scandal and this ALS sham, (their sub standard service has been reported in national press before) are the symptoms of what is exactly wrong with privatisation of important services.
Real answer to the problem is for people living in this country to try learning the local language. I know my views on this subject are not shared by some of my friends, but even Mahatma Gandhi held those views.
Georgem
says...
1:37pm Fri 20 Jul 12
Paramjit Bahia wrote:Fake ID? Conspiracy? I'll refer you to Hanlon's Razor.
Surely to appear in court with fake ID must be a serious crime. Why this guy Lone has not been sent to one of Her Majesty's guest houses for couple of years?
If his wife conspired for this plot to deceive the court, example should be made out of her as well.
G4S scandal and this ALS sham, (their sub standard service has been reported in national press before) are the symptoms of what is exactly wrong with privatisation of important services.
Real answer to the problem is for people living in this country to try learning the local language. I know my views on this subject are not shared by some of my friends, but even Mahatma Gandhi held those views.
SaintM
says...
5:17pm Fri 20 Jul 12
SaintM
says...
5:17pm Fri 20 Jul 12
SaintM
says...
5:17pm Fri 20 Jul 12
News Fanatic
says...
5:22pm Fri 20 Jul 12
IronLady2010
says...
10:46pm Fri 20 Jul 12
Would be interesting to see the outcome, had he not be caught!
Poppy22
says...
1:06am Sat 21 Jul 12
The payments to the company should be reduced by the additional court costs, plus a fine to cover everyone else's expenses for time off work, barrister time, etc.
The lady on the company's books should be removed immediately, if she hasn't already been, as it seems it was an attempt to make easy money by apparently being in two places at the same time!
All these types of outsourced savings are the "paper" savings. The real costs far outweight it being done in-house by professional people who take ownership and responsibility for what they are doing.
bazzeroz
says...
2:22am Sat 21 Jul 12
100%HANTSBOY
says...
4:51am Sat 21 Jul 12
waitawhilesaint
says...
5:53am Sat 21 Jul 12
hulla baloo
says...
8:25am Sat 21 Jul 12
100%HANTSBOY wrote:Gibberish appears to be his mother tongue.
Might as well have sent Southy to do the job,I bet he can speak 9 or 10 languages......but not English ;)
SaintM
says...
8:35am Sat 21 Jul 12
SaintM
says...
8:35am Sat 21 Jul 12
Georgem
says...
10:09am Sat 21 Jul 12
100%HANTSBOY wrote:You might be on to something here. Maybe he IS speaking 9 or 10 languages. All at once...
Might as well have sent Southy to do the job,I bet he can speak 9 or 10 languages......but not English ;)
freefinker
says...
10:33am Sat 21 Jul 12
Georgem wrote:.. but Punjabi is not one of them.
100%HANTSBOY wrote:You might be on to something here. Maybe he IS speaking 9 or 10 languages. All at once...
Might as well have sent Southy to do the job,I bet he can speak 9 or 10 languages......but not English ;)
bazzeroz
says...
10:57am Sun 22 Jul 12
hulla baloo says...
12:00pm Fri 20 Jul 12