Professional Documents
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Under s. 53(1) of Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 all
persons are competent to give evidence. In relation to
compellability, the general rule is that a witness who is competent
is also compellable.
At common law, a witness is competent to give evidence if
the witness sufficiently appreciates the seriousness of the
occasion and realizes that taking the oath involves more
than the duty of telling the truth in ordinary life.
R v Bellamy (1985)
Appellant was convicted of rape. Both he and victim were of low
mental ability and suffered significant mental handicap. The judge
investigated her mental status by questioning appellants social
workers and the appellant and her belief in God, and ruled that
the victim was competent to give evidence, but that given her
lack of belief in God she should not take an oath but make an
affirmation. The defendant appealed on the ground that the judge
was not entitled to cause the victim to affirm and that the fact
that the key evidence in the trial was given in this unauthorized
manner vitiated his conviction. Held:(CA) Dismissed the Appeal .
The judge was correct in investigating the competence of the
complainant as a witness but should not have investigated her
belief in God. The fact that the complainant had realized that she
could be put away if she told a lie it was thus evident that she
did realize that the taking the oath involved more than the duty of
telling the truth in ordinary life. Since she had no objection to
being sworn, he should have allowed her to be sworn. The
irregularity in this aspect of the trial, that the witness had affirmed
rather than taking the oath, had not been of a material nature and
could not have affected either the complainants evidence pr the
jurys appreciation of it.
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accuseds
unmarried