The defendant appealed his conviction for rape saying that the judge had wrongly excluded cross examination of the complainanant, in which he had wanted to establish previous false complaints by her.
Held: The appeal failed. The defendant had no evidential basis for the proposed cross examination. The purpose of the rule was not for the protection of the complainant’s sexual reputation, but to protect her from the anguish of re-living previous experiences and ordeals.
Judges:
Maurice Kay LJ, Silber J, Saunders QC
Citations:
Times 16-Jun-2005
Statutes:
Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 41, Sexual Offences Act 1956 1(1)
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Applied – Regina v T CACD 2001
The defendant was not to be allowed to cross-examine the complainaint in a sexual offence case as to her previous sexual history, where there was no evidential basis for the cross-exmination. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Criminal Practice
Updated: 07 May 2022; Ref: scu.228497
