JUDGMENT

Mohd Noor Ahmad JCA:

The three appeals were heard together.

In Criminal Appeal No. M-09-18-97, the respondent was charged with rape, an offence under s. 376 of the Penal Code(the Code). At the end of the trial in the Sessions Court he was convicted and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment and whipping of six strokes. On appeal, the learned judge quashed the conviction, set aside the sentence and ordered a retrial before another Sessions Court Judge. The learned judge held that the learned Sessions Court Judge misdirected himself on the standard of proof on the prosecution at the end of its case when he called for the defence after having found that the prosecution had established a prima faciecase against the respondent. And further, the learned Sessions Court Judge erred in not using the test of beyond reasonable doubt at the end of the case when he held that the respondent failed to raise any reasonable doubt in the prosecution case and therefore, he found the Respondent guilty and convicted.

In a nutshell, the learned judge found that the errors made by the learned Sessions Court Judge were the combination of the two standards of proof at the end of the prosecution case a