A forensic scientist had been called as an expert witness at a criminal trial. He had made an unjustified assumption but had not disclosed the making of the assumption to the court.
Held: The court concluded that the witness had been discredited, not only as a scientist, but also as a witness upon the accuracy, fairness and objectivity and of whose evidence reliance could be placed: ‘This was in our judgment, conduct on the part of an expert witness which demonstrated a complete misunderstanding of the role of scientific witnesses in the Courts, and a lack of the essential qualities of accuracy and scientific objectivity which are normally to be taken for granted.’
Judges:
Lord Justice-General (Lord Emslie)
Citations:
1981 SCLR 783
Jurisdiction:
Scotland
Cited by:
Cited – McTear v Imperial Tobacco Ltd OHCS 31-May-2005
The pursuer sought damages after her husband’s death from lung cancer. She said that the defenders were negligent in having continued to sell him cigarettes knowing that they would cause this.
Held: The action failed. The plaintiff had not . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Criminal Practice, Evidence
Updated: 09 May 2022; Ref: scu.226226