The Court of Appeal in Northern Ireland overturned an appellant’s convictions on three out of eleven counts of historic sexual abuse on the basis that they were unsafe. It found the remainder to be safe, rejecting arguments that the judge had erred in permitting evidence of reprehensible behaviour and that a fair trial had been rendered impossible by the passage of time.
BAD CHARACTER CHILD SEX OFFENCES CRIMINAL EVIDENCE CRIMINAL PROCEDURE DELAY FRESH EVIDENCE INDECENT ASSAULT JURY DIRECTIONS NORTHERN IRELAND
A district judge had not erred when refusing to make an anonymity order in respect of a defendant charged with making indecent images of children as, despite the defendant having been targeted and attacked in relation to a previous allegation of indecent assault of a child, he had not demonstrated that there was a real risk of his being attacked in relation to the instant offences.
ANONYMITY CRIMINAL EVIDENCE CRIMINAL PROCEDURE DEFENDANT CHARGED WITH MAKING INDECENT IMAGES OF CHILDREN EUROPEAN CONVENTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS 1950 art.2 HEARINGS IN OPEN COURT HUMAN RIGHTS INDECENT PHOTOGRAPHS OF CHILDREN JUDICIAL REVIEW OF REFUSAL TO MAKE ANONYMITY ORDER MAGISTRATES’ COURTS NORTHERN IRELAND OPEN JUSTICE REPORTING RESTRICTIONS RIGHT TO LIFE RISK WHETHER REAL RISK OF ATTACK
There was no support for the proposition that the Criminal Justice (Evidence) (Northern Ireland) Order 2004 had changed the law by prohibiting bad character evidence on its own from constituting, in appropriate circumstances, evidence of identity.
ADMISSIBILITY BAD CHARACTER CHILD SEX OFFENCES CRIMINAL EVIDENCE CRIMINAL JUSTICE (EVIDENCE) (NORTHERN IRELAND) ORDER 2004 IDENTITY MURDER NORTHERN IRELAND PREVIOUS CONVICTIONS SIMILAR FACT EVIDENCE SUFFICIENCY OF EVIDENCE ON ITS OWN TO ESTABLISH IDENTITY
There was no support for the proposition that the Criminal Justice (Evidence) (Northern Ireland) Order 2004 had changed the law by prohibiting bad character evidence on its own from constituting, in appropriate circumstances, evidence of identity.
ADMISSIBILITY BAD CHARACTER CHILD SEX OFFENCES CRIMINAL EVIDENCE CRIMINAL JUSTICE (EVIDENCE) (NORTHERN IRELAND) ORDER 2004 IDENTITY MURDER NORTHERN IRELAND PREVIOUS CONVICTIONS SIMILAR FACT EVIDENCE SUFFICIENCY OF EVIDENCE ON ITS OWN TO ESTABLISH IDENTITY
A judge had correctly directed a jury on the issue of doli incapax that they could look at the circumstances surrounding historic sex offences to assist them in their assessment of whether a 13-year-old boy had been aware that his acts were seriously wrong.
“HISTORIC” OFFENCES BUGGERY CRIMINAL JUSTICE (NORTHERN IRELAND) ORDER 1998 art.3 CRIMINAL LAW CRIMINAL PROCEDURE DOLI INCAPAX GROSS INDECENCY HISTORIC SEX OFFENCES INDECENT ASSAULT JURY DIRECTIONS NORTHERN IRELAND SURROUNDING CIRCUMSTANCES AS EVIDENCE OF OFFENDER’S GUILTY KNOWLEDGE
A jury had not acted inconsistently in finding two young offenders guilty of oral rape but not guilty of sexual assault, even though the charges represented a sequence of events over the course of a 30-minute period and the central issue was consent. On the evidence, there was no logical inconsistency in the verdicts.
ACQUITTAL ON OTHER CHARGES OF ORAL RAPE AND SEXUAL ASSAULT ARISING OUT OF 30-MINUTE INCIDENT CONSENT CONVICTION ON ONE CRIMINAL PROCEDURE INCONSISTENT VERDICTS NORTHERN IRELAND RAPE SENTENCING STARTING POINT WHETHER VERDICTS LOGICALLY INCONSISTENT YOUNG OFFENDERS
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