(Jamaica) The defendant appealed against his conviction for murder. He complained that admissions against each other by the co-defendants had been entered in evidence despite his allegations of police mistreatment. The statement was the only substantial evidence.
Held: The appeal succeeded. The judge had been required to give clear directions on an allegation of joint enterprise murder, and spell out the possible inferences to be drawn from the statement and instruct them that they must rule out all inferences consistent with innocence before they could be satisfied that the inference of guilt has been proved correct. In this case the case for the Crown was itself contradictory and unclear and a source of confusion for the jury.
Judges:
Lord Rodger of Earlsferry, Lord Woolf, Lord Hutton, Lord Carswell, Lord Mance
Citations:
[2006] UKPC 12
Links:
Jurisdiction:
Commonwealth
Citing:
Cited – Mitchell v The Queen PC 24-Jan-1998
(Bahamas) The judge’s decision on a voire dire to determine the admissibility of a confession should not be revealed to the jury since it might cause unfair prejudice to the defendant by conveying the impression that the judge had reached a . .
Cited – Regina v Powell (Anthony) and Another; Regina v English HL 30-Oct-1997
When the court looked at the issue of foreseeability of murder in an allegation of joint enterprise, there was no requirement to show intent by the secondary party. The forseeability of the risk of the principal committing the offence from the point . .
Cited – Teeluck and John v The State PC 23-Mar-2005
(Trinidad and Tobago) The defendant appealed against his conviction saying that his defence had been incompetent in having failed to require the judge to give a good character direction to the jury.
Held: The appeal was allowed. Recent cases . .
Cited – Mantoor Ramdhanie and others v The State PC 15-Dec-2005
PC (Trinidad and Tobago) The defendant appealed his conviction, saying he had not been properly able to pur forward his evidence of good character. The judge had prevented the defence putting questions to show a . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Criminal Practice
Updated: 05 July 2022; Ref: scu.239588