The failure of two high profile drugs prosecutions and Dame Lois Browne Evans' attack last week on Canadian lawyers who used to work as Crown counsel has put the spotlight on the Director of Public Prosecution's (DPP) office recently.

Statistics compiled by The Royal Gazette recently indicate that there has been a rise in the number of drugs cases lost or overturned on appeal over the last four years.

Between February, 1998, and 1999, prosecutors had a near 100 percent record while there were around 14 Supreme Court drugs cases which went against the Crown between February 2000 and February 2002.

Defence lawyer Mark Pettingill said he had not been keeping tabs on the record of the DPP.

He said: "There are some cases which should never have been brought. The drugs case with Richard Hector recently - from the very outset didn't have any evidence."

Andrew James Smith was charged with importing cannabis worth more than $360,000 but Assistant Justice Charles-Etta Simmons found there was no case to answer and directed the jury to return a not-guilty verdict.

Mr. Pettingill said: "You can't just throw it to a jury and hope they reach for it if you don't have any evidence."

Asked if there had been an increase in cases lost, current Director of Public Prosecutions Khamisi Tokunbo said: "I would not say that, I would say we don't win or lose cases.

"This is not a game where you win or lose cases, we prosecute to get a just result, many times that is not determined by us.

"It's the jury or the magistrate in the court below, they determine the result not the prosecution.

"You have statistics I haven't seen. I don't think you can draw the conclusions you are drawing.

"I don't know of any trend of cases lost, an acquittal doesn't mean a correct result.

"It's not necessarily anything to do with the prosecution. It could be the evidence itself. You have to be careful with trends."

Mr. Tokunbo added: "I am quite pleased with the performance of this department."