Acting Director of Public Prosecutions Kulandra Ratneser who stepped in as DPP after Khamisi Tokunbo's contract ran out, has a difficult and delicate task ahead of him.

He must restore confidence in the office he now leads and he needs to restore the morale of his Crown counsels, who have seen their director depart and have come under increased criticism from the general public following the collapse of a number of high profile cases.

The criticism, while not unfounded, is not entirely the DPP department's responsibility. Be that as it may, it is the prosecutors who hold the ultimate responsibility when a case goes wrong.

With that in mind, Mr. Ratneser went through his baptism of fire on Monday in the Supreme Court when he appeared for the Crown in the Kofi Dill case, and survived quite well.

Mr. Ratneser decided in this case to accept a lower plea for Dill's part in the assault on O'Shane Eugene Darrell. This was a particular nasty case in which the victim was severely beaten and then left lying in a pool of blood.

Dill admitted kicking the man ten times and forensic evidence confirmed this.

On that basis, Assistant justice Archie Warner questioned why Mr. Ratneser was not prosecuting him for a more serious charge. Indeed, Dill was initially charged with attempted murder.

Mr. Ratneser explained why he was not proceeding with a more serious charge and in doing so, gave some indication of how he intends to lead his office.

The evidence, while strong, did not indicate either that Dill had beaten Mr. Darrell in the head, thus causing the injuries that could have caused his death, or whether the blows to the head were caused by feet or sticks. And the Police had not taken an imprint of Dill's shoes, which could have strengthened the case.

Rather than take the case to a jury, as Mr. Justice Warner suggested, Mr. Ratneser opted to take the lower plea.

While this may not be the best course in all cases, it was the best in this one. Prosecutors have seen a number of seemingly strong cases fail when they have reached trial and it is important now that they secure convictions based on the evidence they have.

This will add to public confidence and also ensures that the accused spends some time in prison. It also sends a message to the Police that cases will not be tried without the best possible evidence and it is to be hoped that the two law and order arms will work more closely together to ensure that they do present the best possible cases.

It will also let defence lawyers and defendants know that when a case is brought, it is strong and that they should not go to trial in the hope that a jury will acquit.

These are all sound principles on which the DPP's chambers should go forward. Does that mean that all trials will end in convictions? Of course not. But it will go a long way to restoring public confidence.