1 September 2017
Judge uses Google Translate to inform Bath defendant about next court
appearance
A judge was forced to use Google Translate to
inform a defendant from Bath about what was happening in his case at Bristol
Crown Court.
Jaroslaw Nowacki, 31, of Pierrepont Street, Bath,
appeared at crown court on Wednesday (August 30) charged with possession of a
knife without good reason or lawful authority.
However,
the preparation for trial hearing did not exactly go to plan.
His Honour Judge Euan Ambrose confirmed with
the defendant that he was originally from Poland, before deciding it was likely
Nowacki would need a translator.
“We need a translator who speaks Polish for
you and English for me,” he told the court.
Judge Ambrose said he would delay the plea
hearing until next Wednesday (September 6) to allow the court time to arrange
for a translator.
He also told Nowacki, who was not represented
by a barrister at the hearing, that he needs to speak to a lawyer before he
returns to court.
But due to Nowacki’s limited grasp of
English, he did not understand what he was being told and Judge Ambrose turned
to Google Translate to get his message across.
“Whether Google Translate will accurately
translate what I want to say I don’t know,” he said.
After spending several minutes typing out a
message, Judge Ambrose printed it off and it was handed to Nowacki for him to
read in the dock.
Nowacki
then confirmed that he understood the message and the case was adjourned, with
the defendant given unconditional bail ahead of the next hearing. [..]
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