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Citation
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Judgment date
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| December 1978 |
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Unjustified lethal force by police in effecting an arrest constituted manslaughter; common intention sustained convictions and sentences.
Criminal law – use of force in effecting arrest (s.18 Penal Code) – apparent necessity for lethal force; Common intention (s.22 Penal Code) – liability where fatal consequence is a probable result of a shared unlawful purpose; Mens rea – distinction between murder and manslaughter where malice aforethought not proved; Sentencing – severity and deterrence for close-range unlawful shooting.
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19 December 1978 |
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Appeal allowed: unsafe identification and nondisclosure of police statement; death sentences quashed.
* Criminal law – identification evidence – night-time identification – contradictions and lack of corroboration making identification unsafe.
* Criminal procedure – admission of preliminary hearing/police statements under s.64 – cautionary use and trial judge’s power to recall witnesses under s.37 and s.64(3).
* Prosecutorial duties – duty to include/disclose material police statements and make available witnesses whose evidence may affect guilt or credibility.
* Sentencing practice – death sentence on multiple counts: pass sentence on one count and record convictions on others.
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16 December 1978 |
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Prolonged intoxication raised reasonable doubt about intent, reducing the appellant’s conviction from murder to manslaughter.
Criminal law – Evidence Act s.119 spouse non-compellability; identification evidence by close relatives; failure to exhibit weapon and call scene witnesses; Penal Code s.13(4) – intoxication and proof of intent; substitution of murder conviction with manslaughter.
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6 December 1978 |
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Appeal dismissed: sole-witness identification upheld as reliable given good observation and supporting evidence.
Criminal law – Identification evidence – Conviction on sole visual identification; Wendo safeguards – court must warn itself of danger, assess quality of observation (lighting, duration, familiarity) and seek other evidence where conditions adverse; corroboration not legally required; alibi – burden remains on prosecution to prove guilt where no alibi is pleaded; hearsay – inadmissible statements should not be relied on.
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5 December 1978 |
| November 1978 |
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Convictions quashed where identification relied on inadmissible hearsay and lacked adequate corroboration.
Evidence — hearsay inadmissibility — chief’s testimony as hearsay; Identification — requirements for safe identification in difficult circumstances; Alibi — no burden on accused to prove but prosecutor must investigate; Prosecution failure to produce contemporaneous statements undermines conviction; Conviction unsafe — quashed.
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21 November 1978 |
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Appellate court found provocation and misdirected acceptance of inconsistent witness evidence; murder conviction reduced to manslaughter and death sentence set aside.
Criminal law – murder v. manslaughter – provocation – evaluation of witness credibility and inconsistencies between police statements and in‑court testimony – misdirection by trial judge – substitution of conviction and sentence.
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7 November 1978 |
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Conviction for murder upheld where sole eyewitness identification, an admissible confession and prior threat corroborated guilt.
Criminal law – Identification evidence – conviction on sole identifying witness at twilight – safeguards and need for corroboration; Confession to local chief – admissibility and corroborative value; Defence of alibi – evaluation and rejection; Provocation – availability and applicability; Malice aforethought – established by brutal injuries.
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1 November 1978 |
| September 1978 |
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Conviction for murder in course of robbery upheld based on recent possession and lack of explanation, despite questionable extra-judicial statements.
Criminal law – admissibility and voluntariness of extra-judicial statements; corroboration of retracted statements; medical evidence of torture; circumstantial evidence – doctrine of recent possession; liability for murder committed in course of robbery (common intention/participation).
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25 September 1978 |
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Second suit for same land barred by res judicata; preliminary legal issues properly decided before evidence.
* Civil procedure – res judicata – ownership of land finally decided in earlier suit – second suit barred by s.7 Civil Procedure Act. * Civil procedure – preliminary issues of law (Order 15 R.2) may be tried before evidence by consent. * Evidence – production of earlier judgment alone sufficient where no trial‑level objection to absence of full record. * Limitation – remarks obiter; execution, not fresh suit, is the appropriate remedy for enforcing earlier decree.
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18 September 1978 |
| August 1978 |
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Court granted extension to file appeal out of time due to counsel’s illness, but cautioned illness is not automatically sufficient.
* Civil procedure – Extension of time – Court of Appeal Rules, Rule 4 – Whether to grant leave to file Memorandum of Appeal out of time – advocate’s illness as cause for delay – balancing prejudice to prosecution and interests of justice.
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10 August 1978 |
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Improperly admitted confession and weak circumstantial/forensic evidence made the murder conviction unsafe.
Criminal law – Confession – trial within a trial – prosecution’s duty to prove voluntariness – must call the person to whom statement was made; Circumstantial evidence – sufficiency and weakest link principle; Forensic evidence – production of autopsy report and expert proof of blood testing; Procedural fairness – improperly admitted confessions render conviction unsafe.
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8 August 1978 |
| July 1978 |
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27 July 1978 |
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Insufficient proof of malice aforethought; conviction reduced from murder to manslaughter and sentence substituted.
Criminal law – identification evidence – single identifying witness; dying declaration – admissibility and corroboration; malice aforethought – burden of proof; provocation/mutual combat reducing murder to manslaughter; necessity of medical, hospital and arrest evidence; value of oral evidence of pathologist.
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24 July 1978 |
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Conviction upheld where a corroborated extra‑judicial confession and threat evidence established motive and guilt.
Criminal law – Murder – Admissibility and weight of evidence of threats reported by deceased – Credibility and corroboration of extra-judicial admissions/confessions – Effect of witness intoxication and suspect status on reliability – Appellate review of trial judge’s credibility findings despite assessors’ dissent.
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1 July 1978 |
| June 1978 |
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Court upholds convictions for personation, theft and extortion but corrects an illegal sentence on one count.
* Criminal law – Identification – positive identification by multiple witnesses in daylight and corroboration by distinctive scars supports conviction. * Criminal law – Personation of a public officer and demanding money with menaces – elements proved where accused posed as an officer and obtained money by threats. * Appellate procedure – duty of first appellate court to rehear and re-evaluate evidence; failure to provide reasoned judgment criticized. * Evidence – discrepancies in peripheral details and failure to call a particular witness do not necessarily undermine otherwise overwhelming evidence. * Sentencing – sentence exceeding statutory maximum is illegal and must be set aside and replaced.
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29 June 1978 |
| May 1978 |
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Application for extension of time to file appeal dismissed: lack of sufficient reason and inexcusable counsel delay.
Criminal procedure – extension of time to file notice of appeal – Appeal Rules r.4 – "sufficient reason" required; lack of funds not sufficient where no filing fee required; counsel’s inordinate delay is dilatory conduct, not excusable mistake; prospects of success secondary to showing sufficient reason.
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30 May 1978 |
