The appellant had been convicted of causing death by careless driving with excess alcohol. He said that he had taken alcohol after stopping driving but before being tested. He challenged the weight of the burden of proof ascribed by the statute. The judge had directed the jury that he faced a persuasive burden of establishing that he would not have been over the limit. He said this infringed the assumption of innocence.
Held: Any restriction on the presumption of innocence must be justified. The offence differs from those previously considered in that the test is not as to the intention of the accused, but as to the results of a scientific test. Any inexactness in the scientific test will work in favour of the accused, it is the accused who has done something, by drinking after an accident, to make the scientific test less reliable, and it is within the control of the defendant to say how much he had drunk. The interference with the defendant’s human rights was reasonable and no more than was necessary.
Judges:
His Honour Judge Mckinnon
Citations:
[2002] EWCA Crim 527, [2002] RTR 21, [2002] 2 Cr App Rep 25, [2002] Crim LR 666
Links:
Statutes:
Road Traffic Act 1988 3A, Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 15, European Convention on Human Rights Art 6(2)
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Salabiaku v France ECHR 7-Oct-1988
A Zairese national living in Paris, went to the airport to collect, as he said, a parcel of foodstuffs sent from Africa. He could not find this, but was shown a locked trunk, which he was advised to leave alone. He however took possession of it, . .
Cited – Attorney General of Hong Kong v Lee Kwong-Kut PC 1993
(Hong Kong) In order to maintain the balance between the individual and the society as a whole, rigid and inflexible standards should not be imposed on the legislature’s attempts to resolve the difficult and intransigent problems with which society . .
Cited – Attorney General of the Caymen Islands and others v Even Wahr-Hansen PC 26-Jun-2000
(Caymen Islands) A memorandum of agreement that proceeds of a trust fund should be paid to ‘any one or more religious, charitable or educational institutions . . or . . operating for the public good’ was not charitable since it the objects were not . .
Cited by:
Cited – Director of Public Prosecutions, Regina (on the Application Of) v Chambers Admn 25-Jul-2003
The prosecutor appealed dismissal of charges of driving with excess alcohol. The defendant had admited driving, but said she had consumed alcohol in the twenty minutes between driving and the police coming to her home. Expert evidence had been . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Crime, Road Traffic, Human Rights
Updated: 23 November 2022; Ref: scu.167728