Magistrate Carol Peralta warned all doctors yesterday that if medical certificates were issued to people who wanted to avoid going to court, they could expect to be summoned to testify.

In a moment of frustration half way through the day’s caseload, the magistrate said the press quite rightly criticised the courts for delays when cases were in court for four years with not one witness being heard.

He said he was referring to a case of handling stolen property in which the witnesses consisted of the prosecuting officer, the policeman who took the report, the accused and the person who bought the stolen goods.

The case had been going on for four years with not one of the witnesses being heard. It angered him to see cases being handled in such an impractical way, Magistrate Peralta said.