British Virgin Islands. The defendant appealed against his conviction for murder, challenging the use made of his identification by the victim before his death. He said that the court had not directed the jury as to the effect of inconsistencies in that evidence.
Held: The appeal failed. The court had fallen into error in its treatment of hearsay evidence, in not pointing out inconsistencies in the decease’s evidence and the significance of the defendant having been unable to test it. Also the court had not given the jury appropriate direction as to the evidence that the deceased’s use of language left the identification ambiguous. However, the mistakes were not sufficient to leave the conviction unsafe: ‘the irregularities of treatment of the hearsay evidence could not, on the facts of this case, have led the jury to convict when they would not have done so if accurately directed.’
Lady Hale, Lord Kerr, Lord Reed, Lord Hughes, Lord Toulson
[2014] UKPC 14
Bailii
Commonwealth
Criminal Evidence
Updated: 03 December 2021; Ref: scu.525610