Bermuda – three appeals against conviction raising similar, although not identical, questions concerning the admissibility and proper ambit of evidence as to the existence and practices of gangs and the defendant’s connections with them.
Held: The appeals failed. A police officer from a unit targeting criminal gangs was able give evidence at a criminal trial as to the culture in which such gangs operated – including practices such as shooting a random member of a rival gang in response to an insult or attack on one of its own members, and as to the defendant’s and victim’s membership of rival gangs, to show motive for the crime with which the defendant was charged, providing the officer had sufficiently demonstrated both his own expertise and the basis for his observations.
In giving factual evidence a skilled witness can draw on the general body of knowledge and understanding in which he is skilled, including the work and literature of others, but warned that ‘care must be taken that simple, and not necessarily balanced, anecdotal evidence is not permitted to assume the robe of expertise.’
Judges:
Lord Kerr, Lord Wilson, Lord Hughes, Lord Toulson, Lord Hodge
Citations:
[2015] UKPC 40, [2015] 3 WLR 1145, [2015] WLR(D) 401
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Approved – Kennedy v Cordia (Services) Llp SC 10-Feb-2016
The appellant care worker fell in snow when visiting the respondent’s client at home. At issue was the admission and status of expert or skilled evidence.
Held: Mrs Kennedy’s appeal succeeded. ‘There are in our view four considerations which . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Criminal Evidence
Updated: 20 May 2022; Ref: scu.553064