(Grenada) The appellants had been convicted of a murder. The court of appeal, having accepted that admissions had been extracted wrongfully, and should not have been admitted, applied the proviso to confirm the conviction.
Held: The committee should not act as a second court of appeal as to the facts, and the judgment as to admissibility was not to be set aside. Nevertheless the proviso was wrongly applied, and the convictions must be quashed. When considering the need for a re-trial, the court should consider whether it would serve the interests of justice in Grenada. The case of Bennett was remitted to the court of appeal to consider a re-trial, but the committee did not order a re-trial, and much of the evidence available at the first trial was now inadmissible or discredited, but it was not for the committee to say what further investigation might reveal.
Judges:
Lord Slynn of Hadley, Lord Steyn, Lord Hoffmann, Lord Hope of Craighead, Lord Hutton
Citations:
[2001] UKPC 37, Appeal No 74 of 2000
Links:
Evidence, Criminal Practice, Commonwealth
Updated: 01 June 2022; Ref: scu.159476
