The trial of a 37-year-old Punjabi woman, accused ofkilling her mother-in-law with a rolling pin, was stopped by the judge afterthe interpreter confessed half an hour later that he was a fake and filling infor his busy wife.
Rajvinder Kaur has been sentenced to life imprisonment. Shewould have to serve a minimum term of 11 years for battering her mother-in-lawBaljit Kaur Buttar to death at her home in Southampton in February last year,the Daily Mail reported Saturday.
The judge halted the trial when the court realisedinterpreter Mubarak Lone was leaving out key words and phrases in histranslating.
Lone was interpreting for Kaur's husband, Iqbal Singh, whospoke Punjabi. He struggled to even get the oath right for the Sikh witness atthe Winchester Crown Court in Hampshire.
The fake interpreter was finally caught by junior counselSukhdev Garcha, who also spoke Punjabi, half an hour into the trial.
Lone confessed that he was not a qualified translator andwas awaiting the results of his interpreter test.
He later revealed that his wife - the actual interpreter -was busy and he had come to do her job instead.
Defence barrister Jonathan Fuller said Lone wronglytranslated words, such as saying "bitter" instead of"irritable" and "Allah" instead of "one god".