SINGAPORE: Singapore’s courts will introduce measures to enhance the management of cases involving sexual offences, announced Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon on Monday (Jan 13).
From Monday, all cases involving sexual offences in the High Court and trials involving some sexual offences in the State Courts will be assigned to a specialist list of experienced and specially trained judges and district judges.
Speaking at the opening of the 2025 legal year, the Chief Justice said: “These cases require careful handling because of the impact that the trial process can have on both complainants and accused persons.”
In the High Court, all sexual offence cases will be heard by judges on the specialist list, including trials, plead guilty mentions, magistrate’s appeals, criminal motions and criminal revisions, said a spokesperson for the courts in response to CNA queries.
In the State Courts, the specialist list will cover trials for serious sexual offences – where there is a penetrative act, the exploitation of a vulnerable person, an abuse of a position of trust, the use of deception, or the use of violence, the spokesperson added.
“It will also cover trials involving complainants or accused persons with special needs that impact their ability to give evidence,” the spokesperson said.
There are currently seven judges on the specialist list for such trials in the High Court. Four of them are also part of the eight judges who will take magistrate’s appeals. There are 12 district judges on the list for cases at the State Courts.
With the launch of the specialist list, the courts are enhancing training and resources for these judges to build deeper expertise in handling sexual offence cases, said the spokesperson.
The courts will also pilot the use of enhanced pre-trial checklists to strengthen the management of these cases, and protect complainants while preserving the right to a fair trial, said Chief Justice Menon.
The aim of the checklist is to allow parties to discuss and identify key issues that are likely to arise during the trial, said the spokesperson for the courts.
“This will help the court to crystallise the facts in issue and frame the contentious points that are likely to be explored in cross-examination before the trial commences,” the spokesperson added.
This would enable the judge to “shut out lines of questioning” that are “completely irrelevant” or “clearly intended to insult or annoy the complainant” at the trial.
Currently, parties must file a judge case conference checklist at least seven days before the scheduled conference, for every criminal case in the High Court, and a similar requirement applies in the State Courts.
The pilot will build on this existing checklist, and parties are required to consider and provide estimates of the time they require for the examination and cross-examination of each witness.
SUSTAINABLE WORK PRACTICES
To encourage safe and sustainable workplaces, the Law Society will issue a policy on preventing workplace harassment and bullying, Chief Justice Menon announced on Monday.
A toolkit will guide law firms on basic structures and procedures that they can implement to prevent such conduct at the workplace, he said in his speech.
The policy is one of eight new recommendations added to the final report by the ethics and professional standards committee, which was also published on Monday.
The committee was formed in 2023, after a rise in disciplinary tribunals at the time.
The interim report, which Chief Justice Menon outlined in 2024, made 13 recommendations, including making ethics modules a mandatory part of the bar exam to ensure that lawyers and law students remain up-to-date with their ethical obligations.
