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16 judgments found.
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December 1978
Excessive lethal force in arrest amounted to manslaughter; common intention warranted convicting both officers and affirming 15‑year sentences.
Criminal law
— Use of force in effecting arrest (s.18 Penal Code) — Apparent necessity required for lethal force; Manslaughter where force excessive
— Common intention (s.22 Penal Code) — Liability of all participants where unlawful common purpose leads to death; no need to identify fatal shooter
Sentencing — Close‑range unlawful shooting warrants severe, deterrent sentence
19 December 1978
Convictions quashed where identification evidence was unsafe and prosecution failed to disclose an exculpatory police statement.
Criminal law — Identification evidence — Admitted preliminary evidence (s.64 Trial on Indictments Decree) — Prosecutor’s duty to disclose police statements — Trial judge’s power to recall witnesses (s.37, s.64(3)) — Fair trial — Sentencing practice on multiple death counts
16 December 1978
Failure to warn a spouse of non-compellability is not fatal; intoxication can negate malice, converting murder to manslaughter.
Criminal law — spouse witness privilege/non-compellability — identification evidence at night — missing exhibits and scene-witnesses — intoxication and proof of malice aforethought — substitution of murder to manslaughter
6 December 1978
A reliable single eyewitness identification, supported by other evidence, can safely sustain a criminal conviction.
Criminal law — Identification evidence — Single witness identification; need for special caution; factors affecting quality of identification (lighting, observation, familiarity); "other evidence" supporting identification; alibi burden
5 December 1978
November 1978
Conviction unsafe where trial judge relied on inadmissible hearsay and identification lacked adequate corroboration.
Criminal law — Identification evidence — Caution in recognition — Hearsay — Admissibility of third-party reports of witnesses’ first statements — Evidence Act s.155 (corroboration) — Burden on prosecution to produce contemporaneous statements — Alibi — Inference from failure to call witness — Unsafe conviction
21 November 1978
Provocation established and misdirected finding about sourcing of the knife led to substitution of murder conviction with manslaughter; death sentence set aside.
Criminal law — Provocation reducing murder to manslaughter — Evaluation of conflicting witness statements — Credibility of in‑court testimony versus prior police statement — Misdirection on material factual finding
7 November 1978
Whether a sole identifying witness and a village-chief confession suffice to uphold the applicant's murder conviction.
Criminal law — Identification by a sole witness at night/twilight — corroboration by confession to village chief — alibi — provocation — murder/malice aforethought
1 November 1978
September 1978
Whether murder convictions can be sustained on recent possession of stolen goods despite disputed extra‑judicial statements obtained in custody.
Criminal law — circumstantial evidence — recent possession of stolen property — admissibility and voluntariness of extra‑judicial statements — retracted statements and need for corroboration — common intention in robbery leading to murder
25 September 1978
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
18 September 1978
August 1978
A brief advocate illness justified a limited extension to file a memorandum of appeal; interest of justice required hearing the appeal.
Civil procedure — Extension of time under Rule 4 — Filing Memorandum of Appeal out of time — Advocate’s illness as cause — Good cause standard — Interest of justice outweighing procedural delay — Potential prejudice to prosecutorial file management
10 August 1978
Conviction overturned where confession was improperly admitted and circumstantial evidence, including the axe, failed to exclude reasonable doubt.
Criminal law — admissibility of confessions — proper procedure for trial within a trial; circumstantial evidence — adequacy and weakest link principle; duty to produce autopsy/medical evidence; proof beyond reasonable doubt
8 August 1978
July 1978
27 July 1978
Insufficient proof of malice aforethought where provocation and medical/examination evidence were not established; murder reduced to manslaughter.
Identification — single eyewitness and dying declaration; Post-mortem evidence — need for viva voce medical evidence; Malice aforethought — prosecution burden where provocation/mutual fight possible; Procedural omissions — evidence of arrest and medical examination important
24 July 1978
Appellant’s murder conviction upheld on corroborated confession and circumstantial evidence despite unreliable, intoxicated witness testimony.
Criminal law — Murder; admissibility and weight of threat evidence; extrajudicial/confessional statements — corroboration required; credibility — intoxicated witness and suspect; assessors’ dissent versus trial judge’s findings
1 July 1978
June 1978
First appellate judgment inadequate but convictions upheld; one sentence reduced to statutory maximum, overall term remains four years.
Criminal law — identification evidence — personation of public officer — sufficiency of identification from multiple, close‑range sightings and scars; Criminal procedure — duty of first appellate court to rehear and give reasons; Sentencing — illegality where sentence exceeds statutory maximum under section 87(b)
29 June 1978
May 1978
Applicant failed to show sufficient reason to extend time for filing a notice of appeal; application dismissed.
Criminal procedure — Extension of time under r.4 Appeal Rules — 'Sufficient reason' required — Lack of funds not a ground where no filing fee applies — Counsel's inordinate delay not automatically sufficient — Merits secondary to proof of sufficient reason
30 May 1978
