Police lack capacity to monitor released prisoners, attorneys say

The prosecution told the Criminal Court Wednesday that the police do not have the capacity to properly monitor individuals released under house arrest while awaiting trial.

The remarks were made during the hearing in the murder case of Mary Grace Oned Pineda, a Filipino nurse who worked at the IGMH.

The accused, Haleemath Lamha Abdul Rahman, was previously remanded in custody and has now been released under conditions. She was arrested on the orders of the High Court after being released twice before.

Judge Hussain Faiz Rashad asked the prosecution to conduct a risk assessment to determine the potential risks associated with Lamha’s release. The assessment was not conducted, and the court was given an explanation today.

Speaking about the reasons for not conducting the assessment, prosecutor Shaamaa said that Lamha was not under active police surveillance and that the police lacked the capacity to manage detainees.

“The police do not have the capacity to actively monitor people who should be in custody when they are released. Prisons have been built and laws have been designed to monitor certain people inside them,” Shaamaa said.

She added that there are no procedures in place to conduct such assessments for each detainee and that risk assessments were initially introduced to reduce the number of prisoners in detention.

The prosecution stated that, as of last July, nine individuals awaiting trial had been released wearing leg tags, including serious offenders. The tagging system began in May as a measure to address delays in trial and long periods of detention.