More than half of all the cases received by Oman’s Public Prosecution were dismissed in 2016, officials announced.

According to Public Prosecution’s data released for 2016, 56 per cent of all received cases ended up being dismissed, due to a variety of reasons. 

The number of cases dismissed in 2016 was pegged at 21,075, and is similar to the 2015 count, which was 20,914 or 1 per cent less.

The main reason for dismissal of a case is the failure to identify the perpetrator of the crime. At 40 per cent, the cause “unknown perpetrator” resulted in the dismissal of 7,828 cases.

The second most common reason for dismissal is in cases due to “low importance,” which happened in 4,434 cases and accounted for 21 per cent of the total.

Both “lack of evidence” and “non-suit cases” accounted for 12 per cent each in reasons for dismissing cases, at 2,484 and 2,418 cases, respectively.

At 7 per cent, 1,424 charges were dismissed for them “not being a crime.”

“Lapse of time,” on the other hand, resulted in 5 per cent of case dismissals or 1,140 cases.

Other reasons include “special circumstance,” “death of a suspect,” “act of god (fateful circumstance),” “not filed by the authorised person,” and “no punishment.”

The least likely reason for dismissal of a case was “double jeopardy,” which are cases that lead to the prosecution of a person twice for the same offence. 2016 saw nine cases of double jeopardy being dismissed, or 0.04 per cent of all cases dismissed.

While dismissed cases formed 56 per cent of all cases in 2016, 5 per cent of all cases were postponed in 2016 due to investigation circumstances.

About 40 per cent of cases received last year have gone to court after the completion of the Public Prosecution’s investigations.

When asked about the time it takes for the court to complete a case, Mohammad Al Yahyai, director general of the Directorate General of Public Prosecution for Muscat Governorate, said, “Every case differs from the other. I don’t want to brag about Oman, but compared with other countries, I believe that Oman solves cases quite quickly.”

Source: Timesofoman