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Sentenze via cellulare, dall’Inghilterra arrivano nuovi stimoli
per utilizzare le nuove tecnologie in ambito giudiziario
Un tassista è stato la
prima persona a ricevere la pronuncia da parte di una Corte inglese di una
sentenza per mezzo
del
telefono cellulare.
Aftab Ahmed avrebbe dovuto comparire dinanzi al giudice Caroline Ludlow del
Tribunale di Ipswich per ricevere la pronuncia di una sentenza, ma un incidente
mortale
lo ha bloccato sulla strada per il Tribunale.
Il quarantaquattrenne Ahmed, che era a bordo
dell’auto di un amico, ha ritenuto necessario informare il giudice della
impossibilità di
raggiungere il Tribunale con una chiamata effettuata dal suo cellulare.
Dopo essersi accertata che non stesse utilizzando il cellulare mentre era alla
guida dell’auto, il giudice Ludlow ha chiesto al sig. Ahmed se volesse ottenere
un rinvio dell’udienza o fosse disposto ad ascoltare la sentenza tramite il
telefono cellulare e questi ha risposto di non volere ulteriormente ritardare
il corso
della giustizia.
Il giudice Ludlow ha allora pronunciato la sentenza di condanna per infedeli
dichiarazioni nell’ambito di una procedura di fallimento cui il tassista era
stato in precedenza sottoposto, richiedendo al medesimo conferma di aver capito
esattamente il provvedimento di condanna e se avesse qualcosa da dire in proposito.
Si tratta del primo caso di sentenza pronunciata in Inghilterra e nel Galles
tramite telefono cellulare.
Il sig. Ahmed ha dichiarato che una dilazione
non sarebbe stata in alcun modo utile ed avrebbe, anzi, comportato una notevole
perdita
di tempo e ulteriori
spese per sé stesso e per l’erario.
Gli avvocati del sig. Ahmed non hanno potuto
opporre alcunché alla decisione
del giudice Ludlow. Dopo avere consultato i propri codici, hanno dovuto concludere
che niente impedisse alla Corte di pronunciare la sentenza per mezzo del cellulare.
– – – – –
“Judge passes sentence by mobile
phone”
by David Sapsted (4.2.2005)
Telegraph newspaper online
(http://www.telegraph.co.uk)
A taxi driver has become
the first person to be sentenced by an English court in a call to his mobile
phone.
Aftab Ahmed had been due to appear before Judge Caroline Ludlow for sentencing
at Ipswich Crown Court but was delayed on the way there when the A14 was
closed because of a fatal accident near Stowmarket.
Ahmed, 44, who was a passenger in a friend’s car, called the court to explain
his predicament. After checking that he was not using the phone while driving,
the judge gave him the choice of either being dealt with over the phone or
having the hearing adjourned.
He decided to take his punishment
then and there and was sentenced to 140 hours community service and ordered
to pay £750
costs. He had pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to failing to fully disclose
his financial affairs
to the official receiver after being made bankrupt.
Ahmed, of Bury St Edmunds,
said yesterday: “I
took the view that I might as well get it all over with and hear what was
going
to happen to me on the
phone. Obviously, I was not allowed to say anything while she was sentencing
me. I had to sit very quiet and not interrupt.
“She asked me if I understood
everything and I agreed. Then she asked me if I had anything to say and
I had a bit
of a moan about
the costs she wanted
me to pay.
“It does not really
bother me that I might have made legal history. At the end of the day,
I think the court dealt with
me in
an appropriate manner.
If they had adjourned my sentencing to wait for me to appear in court it would
only have cost more money and wasted more time.”
Andrew Riley, the solicitor
who represented the Department of Trade and Industry in the case, said: “Our
barrister and Kevin McCarthy (Ahmed’s solicitor) rushed to their law books
to see if it
could be done
and they could not find
anything which said it could not.
“The judge sat on the
bench with her phone in front of her and spoke to the defendant for about
10 minutes.”
The Lord Chancellor’s Department
said that, as far as it was concerned, it was the first time anyone had been
sentenced over the telephone in any of the
courts in England and Wales.
