Regina v O’Doherty: CANI 19 Apr 2002

The defendant appealed his conviction based upon voice identification evidence, of making a false emergency telephone call.
Held: The court should have heard expert evidence of acoustic analysis, as well as expert evidence of voice identification. This might not be necessary where the issue was which of a known group had spoken, or where the voice had rare characteristics, or where the issue was as to the dialect of the speaker. The jury should also listen themselves to the recording, but be given a warning as to the dangers of substituting their own opinion for that of the expert. Progress suggested that the techniques accepted in Robb were no longer sufficient..

Judges:

Lord Justice Nicholson, Mr Justice Kerr and Mr Justice McLaughlin

Citations:

Times 03-Jun-2002

Jurisdiction:

Northern Ireland

Citing:

DoubtedRegina v Robb CACD 1991
The evidence of an expert to prove identification by voice was admissible. Also voice recognition evidence given by a phonetician was admissible as expert evidence; and that evidence of police officers who listened to disputed tapes and recognised . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Evidence

Updated: 30 June 2022; Ref: scu.172180