There was no general principle that delay, in a criminal trial involving young children, meant that the evidence of that child should always be excluded at a subsequent trial; each case was fact specific. In the instant case, a judge had been entitled to admit a child’s Achieving Best Evidence interview at trial despite the delay of two years and four months since the interview had taken place.
BEST EVIDENCE CHILDREN CRIMINAL EVIDENCE CRIMINAL PROCEDURE CROSS-EXAMINATION DELAY EXCLUSION RAPE OF CHILD UNDER 13 SEXUAL ASSAULT OF CHILD UNDER 13
Where the admission of hearsay evidence of a person who had died was sought under the Criminal Justice Act 2003 s.116(2)(a), in the proviso in s.116(5), that if the circumstances (namely that person’s death) were caused “(a) by the person in support of whose case it is sought to give the statement…” [then the evidence would be inadmissible], “person” meant the defendant or somebody acting on his behalf, not the deceased person.
ADMISSIBILITY BEST EVIDENCE CRIMINAL EVIDENCE CRIMINAL PROCEDURE DISCHARGE OF JURY GOOD CHARACTER HEARSAY EVIDENCE SEXUAL ACTIVITY WITH CHILDREN SUICIDE
There was no basis on which to extend time to allow an offender to appeal against his convictions for rape, sexual assault, and causing or inciting a four-year-old child to engage in sexual activity. Although the normal trial process had had to be modified in a number of ways because of the victim’s age, the judge had taken great care to ensure that the trial was fair.
BEST EVIDENCE CAUSING CHILDREN TO ENGAGE IN SEXUAL ACTIVITY CRIMINAL EVIDENCE CRIMINAL PROCEDURE CROSS-EXAMINATION NO CASE TO ANSWER RAPE OF CHILD UNDER 13 SEXUAL ASSAULT OF CHILD UNDER 13
A finding of fact of sexual assault in welfare proceedings was upheld in circumstances where the interview and preparation process for a child’s Achieving Best Evidence interviews was sufficiently robust so as to enable the recorded and written records to be taken as a source of reliable evidence and where the judge’s characterisation of the influences on the child was not too narrow a consideration of all the background material.
BEST EVIDENCE CHILDREN’S WELFARE CRIMINAL EVIDENCE FAMILY LAW FINDING OF FACT OF SEXUAL ASSAULT INTERVIEW AND PREPARATION PROCESS INTERVIEWS SEXUAL ASSAULT OF CHILD UNDER 13 WEIGHT ACCORDED TO ACHIEVING BEST EVIDENCE INTERVIEWS WITNESS COACHING
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