As to the case of Kwan Ping Bong, Moses LJ said: ‘Read literally, Lord Diplock’s dicta might be understood to be saying that an inference was only to be regarded as compelling if all juries, assumed to be composed of those who are reasonable, would be bound to draw such an inference. In short, an inference could only be drawn if no one would dissent from it.
We reject that as an approach to be taken by the judge at the close of the prosecution case, even where the evidence is only circumstantial. The correct approach is to ask whether a reasonable jury, properly directed, would be entitled to draw an adverse inference. To draw an adverse inference from a combination of factual circumstances necessarily does involve the rejection of all realistic possibilities consistent with innocence. But that is not the same as saying that anyone considering those circumstances would be bound to reach the same conclusion. That is not an appropriate test for a judge to apply on the submission of no case. The correct test is the conventional test of what a reasonable jury would be entitled to conclude.’
Judges:
Moses LJ
Citations:
[2006] EWCA Crim 2964
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Kwan Ping Bong and Kong Ching v The Queen PC 16-Nov-1978
(Hong Kong) In reaching its conclusions it is open to the court to draw inferences from primary facts which it finds established by evidence. A court may not, however, infer the existence of some fact which constitutes an essential element of the . .
Cited – Regina v Galbraith CCA 1981
Rejection of Submission of No Case to Answer
The defendant had faced a charge of affray. The court having rejected his submission of having no case to answer, he had made an exculpatory statement from the dock. He appealed against his conviction.
Held: Lord Lane LCJ said: ‘How then . .
Cited by:
Cited – X Ltd, Regina v CACD 23-May-2013
The prosecutor appealed after the judge at the crown court had found no case to answer on a prosecution of the company under the 2008 Regulations. The company had sold a home security system to an elderly and vulnerable man. His family found that he . .
Approved – Goring v Regina CACD 13-Jan-2011
The defendant appealed against his convictions for murder and possession of an offensive weapon, saying that the judge had wrongly rejected his submission that there was no case to answer. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Crime
Updated: 18 May 2022; Ref: scu.510094
