Prosecutor’s request for judicial review after acquittal of the interested party of charges of assault on his wife. She had failed to attend at court to give evidence and the magistrates had refused to either adjourn or admit her written statement as hearsay evidence.
Held: The refusal of an adjournment was within the discretion of the bench, but there had been evidence that she could not attend being in hospital and the statement should have been admitted: ‘Section 116 of the 2003 Act provides specifically for the admission of a written statement of a witness unavailable through ill-health. On such an application the court must consider the matters set out in section 116(4) and the interests of justice. The witness statement had been taken on 26th July, the same date on which photographs were taken. The defendant was able to challenge the contents of the statement by giving evidence, and his ability to do that was not hampered. This is not to say that adducing the written evidence would been an ideal form of trial, but it would have been a good second best which would, in my judgment, have enabled the trial to proceed without unfairness to the defendant.’
Citations:
[2007] EWHC 205 (Admin)
Links:
Statutes:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Magistrates, Criminal Evidence
Updated: 23 March 2022; Ref: scu.248933