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National Court of Papua New Guinea |
PAPUA NEW GUINEA
[IN THE NATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE]
CR 71 OF 2018
THE STATE
V
RICHARD JASON MAGIAU NAMALIU
Waigani: Berrigan, J
2019: 25 and 26 September
CRIMINAL LAW – Evidence –Propensity or Similar Fact Evidence –Relationship Evidence.
Cases Cited:
Papua New Guinea Cases
Beraro v The State [1988-1989] PNGLR 562
The State v Daniel [1988-89] PNGLR 580
The State v Hambo (2010) N4036
Overseas Cases
Makin v Attorney-General (NSW) [1894] AC 57
R v Ball and Ball [1910] UKLawRpAC 59; [1911] AC 47
Noor Mohammed v The King [1949] AC 182
Wilson v The Queen [1970] HCA 17; (1970) 123 CLR 334
R v Boardman [1975] AC 421
DPP v P [1991] 2 AC 477
R v Toki No 3 [2000] NSWSC 99
Phillip v The DPP [2017] UKPC 14
Myers, Brangman & Cox v The Queen [2015] AC 314
References Cited
Section 287, 291, 302 of the Criminal Code (Ch. 262).
Counsel
Mr D. Kuvi, for the State
Mr F. Kirriwom, for the Accused
RULING ON EVIDENCE
“Duty of Persons in Charge of Dangerous Things
(1) It is the duty of every person who has in his charge or under his control anything, whether living or inanimate, and whether moving or stationary, of such a nature that in the absence of care or precaution in its use or management the life, safety or health of any person may be endangered, to use reasonable care and take reasonable precautions to avoid that danger.
(2) A person on whom a duty is imposed by Subsection (1) shall be deemed to have caused any consequences that result to the life or health of any person by reason of any omission to perform that duty.”
“... Such evidence cannot be said to be irrelevant. Evidence which shows that the defendant has a propensity to offend or behave badly may well be very relevant. But it is normally to be excluded on grounds of fairness, unless there is some reason to admit it beyond mere propensity. Lord Herschell’s famous formulation of the principle is, as Lord Hailsham of St Marylebone subsequently explained in R v Boardman [1975] AC 421 at 451, an application of the unfairness rule in due course to be adumbrated in Noor Mohammed. Lord Herschell said this, at p 65:
‘It is undoubtedly not competent for the prosecution to adduce evidence tending to shew that the accused has been guilty of criminal acts other than those covered by the indictment, for the purpose of leading to the conclusion that the accused is a person likely from his criminal conduct or character to have committed the offence for which he is being tried.
On the other hand, the mere fact that the evidence adduced tends to shew the commission of other crimes does not render it inadmissible if it be relevant to an issue before the jury, and it may be so relevant if it bears upon the question whether the acts alleged to constitute the crime charged in the indictment were designed or accidental, or to rebut a defence which would otherwise be open to the accused.
The statement of these general principles is easy, but it is obvious that it may often be very difficult to draw the line and to decide whether a particular piece of evidence is on the one side or the other.’
The first sentence encapsulates the general rule that mere propensity to behave badly is to be excluded as unfair. The second states the principle that if evidence of bad behaviour has probative value beyond mere propensity to misbehave it may be admissible, and it gives examples, not in any sense exhaustive, of when it may have such value. The third states an important truth.”
“Mere propensity to behave badly is to be excluded as unfair. Admission requires justification beyond such mere propensity. An example of such justification is so-called similar fact evidence (which was in question in Boardman, and see now DPP v P [1991] 2 AC 447); in such a case the justification arises because the evidence is sufficiently compelling to have real value in controverting innocent coincidence. Another example is the kind of case where there has been a course of violent dispute between the defendant and the victim; there the evidence may be admissible (inter alia) to show either who was responsible for the last (charged) occasion, or the intention with which the defendant acted on that occasion, or to explain the reactions of the two parties. Likewise, in a case of alleged sexual abuse, the history and nature of a relationship said to have been abusive will often be relevant to proving a particular incident charged, even though it also shows prior misbehaviour by the defendant. It is impossible to catalogue every situation in which such justification may be present. But unless it is, evidence of misbehaviour unconnected with the offence charged is not admissible. As Lord Hailsham explained in Boardman at 453F, relying on mere propensity as evidence of guilt is an inadmissible chain of reasoning. If the inadmissible chain of reasoning is the only purpose for which the evidence is to be adduced, the evidence is inadmissible. If there is some other justification for the admission of the evidence, the jury usually needs to be warned not to pursue the inadmissible chain of reasoning.
Moreover, to respect the general rule, where such justification does exist the evidence which is admitted ought normally to be restricted to that which is within the justification. The justification is the measure of the admissibility. The existence of such justification does not generally create “open season” to adduce any evidence of the defendant’s bad character or misbehaviour.”
“First, in 2003, Mother had seen Shermelle (the victim) with a swollen arm. She had taxed the appellant with beating her. He had wept and apologised, saying that it would not recur. Second, in February 2006, Yvonne had received a late night telephone call from a distressed Shermelle. She had spoken to the appellant and taxed him with hitting his wife; he had objected that she should keep out of his affairs. The following day Shermelle had a red and swollen ear. Third, a few days after this, Shermelle had come to Yvonne’s home at night. They had set off to find her mother, but had been followed for some distance by the appellant in his car. He had forced their car to stop, rushed up, cursing, had removed the ignition key, and had demanded that Shermelle return home with him. There had been a row in which he accused Yvonne and Mother of interfering and damaging the marriage. Shermelle had corrected him to say that the problem in the marriage was that he would not stop hitting and abusing her. The appellant had sought to justify himself by saying that Shermelle had refused to tell him where she was going. At the end of the row he apologised and promised not to hit her again. Then, in May 2006, Shermelle left the appellant, arriving with some possessions at Yvonne’s home. Within a few weeks she had moved to the rented house in Prospect where she was eventually killed. The appellant either stayed from time to time with her there or perhaps for a short period lived there, until about November/December when he left and she changed the locks to exclude him. The fourth incident of which evidence was given occurred later in December 2006 when he arrived unannounced and insisted on removing household items.... Mother spoke of his hostility to Shermelle on this occasion, which was manifested also by seizing a necklace which she wore and aiming to throw a bottle of water at her, until Mother intervened.”.
“It is of course correct that ... evidence which does no more than demonstrate that the defendant is a violent person will ordinarily be inadmissible: Makin v Attorney General for New South Wales [1894] AC 57, as explained recently by the Board in Myers Cox and Brangman v The Queen [2015] UKPC 40; [2016] AC 314, paras 37-41. But this was not the present case. The present case is a typical example of evidence which is undoubtedly admissible. The evidence was not simply (or indeed at all) that the appellant was given to outbursts of violence or temper in general.It was that he exhibited persistent hostility towards the deceased in particular, which he expressed in violence to her. Born out of frustration his behaviour may have been, but the evidence showed that he resented her leaving him and bore her active and violent ill will. That went to support the case that it was he, rather than some stranger, who accosted her in her own yard and killed her. It was evidence of motive to harm the particular victim of the offence. Such evidence has always been admissible, certainly where the identity of the killer is the issue. It may also be admissible where the killing is admitted by the accused but the issue is the intention with which it was done, or whether it was provoked, but those circumstances are not this case.
This commonplace principle was recognised as long ago as 1910 in R v Ball and Ball [1910] UKLawRpAC 59; [1911] AC 47. The issue in that case was whether it was admissible to prove the physically affectionate relationship between the defendants in order to support the charge of incest on the occasions indicted. But in the course of argument Lord Atkinson offered (at p 68) an observation which has been treated ever since as axiomatic and cited for generations in Archbold’s Criminal Pleading (see currently the 2017 ed at 13-31):
“Surely in an ordinary prosecution for murder you can prove previous acts or words of the accused to show that he entertained feelings of enmity towards the deceased, and that is evidence not merely of the malicious mind with which he killed the deceased, but of the fact that he killed him. You can give in evidence the enmity of the accused towards the deceased to prove that the accused took the deceased’s life. Evidence of motive necessarily goes to prove the fact of the homicide by the accused, as well as his ‘malice aforethought,’ in as much as it is more probable that men are killed by those that have some motive for killing them than by those who have not.”
... For the same reasons, any application to the judge to exclude this evidence as unfairly prejudicial under the principle in Noor Mohammed v The King [1949] AC 182, 192 ... would have been doomed to failure. There is nothing unfair about proving that the accused has an animus against the particular victim whom he is charged with injuring.”
“Evidence of the relationship between the accused and another person can be admissible in order to put the facts giving rise to the charge into a proper context so that the jury can understand the acts of the accused relied upon by the Crown against the background of the circumstances that existed at the relevant time: Wilson v The Queen at 399, 344. The evidence is admitted not simply because it describes the relationship of the parties, but because statements or acts of the parties occurring within the relationship are relevant to the issues before the jury.
When used in this way, relationship evidence is not being adduced or admitted to prove any propensity that the accused may have had to act in a particular way.”
“The evidence may also be relevant, not to show bad character, but to show the relationship between the accused and victim. But it is not enough for the evidence to show a relationship. It must be evidence from which a relevant inference can be drawn[1]. The relationship may be one of hostility[2],or of affection[3], or marital breakdown[4]... One justification for the admission of relationship evidence is that where there is only one charge, “a truthful complainant is likely to be disbelieved if relationship evidence is excluded and in consequence the jury derive the impression that the complainant is saying that the accused molested him or her out of the blue”.The evidence may be admitted as relevant to the accused’s state of mind. Thus it may go to intention, motive – hatred or sexual attraction, for example[5]– self-defence or provocation[6]. It may go to the identity of the offender. It may go to whether an act causing death was an accident or misadventure[7]. It may go to whether the actus reus took place[8]...Evidence of a hostile relationship called by the Crown may be admissible to rebut a defence contention that the relationship was amicable...
If the relationship is relevant, it can be proved by admissions from the accused[9]; testimony from third parties of their direct observations of quarrels or blows[10]; circumstantial evidence[11]; real evidence in the accused’s possession; testimony by the party to the relationship other than the accused; or since, in cases of violent relationships, that party has usually not survived, statements by that party proved by other witnesses as original evidence[12], or by way of exception to the hearsay rule”.
________________________________________________________________
Public Prosecutor: Lawyer for the State
Public Solicitor: Lawyer for the Accused
[1]Wilson v R [1970] HCA 17; (1970) 123 CLR 334 at 339 and 343-4.
[2]R v Ball [1910] UKLawRpAC 59; [1911] AC 47 at 68; Shaw v R [1952] HCA 18; (1952) 85 CLR 365 at 377-8; Plomp v R [1963] HCA 44; (1963) 110 CLR 234 at 251; Wilson v R [1970] HCA 17; (1970) 123 CLR 334; R v Iuliano [1971] VicRp 50; [1971] VR 412 (FC); R v Olasiuk (1973) 6 SASR 255 at 263-4 (CCA); R v Hissey (1973) 6 SASR 280 (CCA); R v Mathews (1984) 36 SASR 503 (CCA); R v Williams (1986) 84 Cr App R 299; R v Mills [1986] 1 Qd R 77 (CCA); R v Andrews [1987] 1 Qd R 21 at 35 (CCA); R v Garret (1988) 50 SASR 392 (CCA); R v Luczkowski (1990) 54 SASR 169 at 172; R v Heath [1991] 2 Qd R 182 at 194-6 and 199-209 (CCA); R v Sidhu (1992) 98 Cr App R 59; R v Andrews (1992) 60 A Crim R 137 (SA CCA); R v Frawley (1993) 69 A Crim R 208 (NSW CCA); R v Fulcher [1995] 2 Cr App R 251 at 258; R v Peake (1996) 67 SASR 297 at 300 (CCA); R v Vollmer [1996] VicRp 9; [1996] 1 VR 95 at 132 (FC); Eastman v R (1997) 76 FCR 9 at 25-6 (Fed C of A FC); R v Grosser [1999] SASC 302; (1999) 73 SASR 584 (CCA); R v Burns [1999] QCA 189; (1999) 107 A Crim R 330 at 341 and 345-6 (Qld CA); R v Andrews [2000] VSCA 16; (2000) 1 VR 1 at [29] –[38] (CA); R v Sawoniuk [2000] 2 Cr App R 220 at 234; R v Tm [2008] EWCA Crim 970; [2000] 2 Cr App R 266; R v Chevathen [2001] QCA 337; (2001) 122 A Crim R 441 at [37]; R v Clark [2001] NSWCCA 494; (2001) 123 A Crim R 506 at [134]- [146].
[3]R v Reardon [1864] EngR 65; (1864) 4 F & F 76;R v Ball [1910] UKLawRpAC 59; [1911] AC 47; R v Gellin [1913] NSWStRp 22; (1913) 13 SR (NSW) 271 at 277-9 (FC); R v Parkin (1922) 37 CCC 35 (Man CA); R v Hewitt (1925) 19 Cr App R 64; R v Allen [1937] St R Qd 32(CCA) ; R v Witham [1962] Qd R 49 (CCA); R v Mills [1986] 1 Qd R 77 (CCA); R v Williams [1987] 2 Qd R 777 at (CCA); S v R [1989] HCA 66; (1989) 168 CLR 266; R v Dolan [1992] SASC 3638; (1992) 58 SASR 501 at 503 (CCA); K v R [1992] FCA 48; (1992) 34 FCR 227 (Fed C of A FC); B v R [1992] HCA 68; (1992) 175 CLR 599; R v Grech [1997] 2 VR 609 (CA); R v W [1997] QCA 415; [1998] 2 Qd R 531; R v Vonarx [1999] 3 VR 618 (CA); R v PLK [1999] VSCA 194; (1999) 3 VR 567; R vNieterink (1999) 76 SASR 56(CCA); R v M [2000] 1 All ER 148 (CA); R v DBY [2006] SASC 141; (2006) 94 SASR 489 at [7]- [18] (CCA); R v Ik [2004] SASC 280; (2004) 89 SASR 406 (CCA); R v Leonard [2006] NSWCCA 267; (2006) 67 NSWLR 545 at [49]; R v VN [2006] VSCA 111; (2006) 15 VR 113 at [17]- [22] and [34]; R v FTG [2007] VSCA 109; (2007) 15 VR 685.
[4]R v Matthey [2007] VSC 398; (2007) 17 VR 222 at [201].
[5]R v Leonard [2006] NSWCCA 267; (2006) 67 NSWLR 545 at [65]; R v Lester [2007] QSC 229; (2007) 176 A Crim R 152 at [19]- [20]; HML v R[2008] HCA 16; (2008) 235 CLR 334 at [7]; Rodden v R (2008) 182 A crim R 227.
[6]R v Heath [1991] 2 Qd R 182 at 204 (CA); R v Stevens [1995] Crim LR 649 (CA); R v Vollmer [1996] VicRp 9; [1996] 1 VR 95 at 132 (CA); R v Anderson [2000] VSCA 16; (2000) 1 VR 1 at [30]; R v Toki (No 3) [2000] NSWSC 999; (2000) 116 A Crim R 536 at [28] ; R v Clark [2001] NSWCCA 494; (2001) 123 A Crim R 506 at [136]- [138]; R v Philips [2005] EWCA Civ 292; [2003] 2 Cr App R 35; R v Hillier [2004] ACTSC 81; (2004) 154 ACTR 46; R v Collie [2005] SASC 148; (2005) 91 SASR 339 at [59].
[7]Wilson v R [1970] HCA 17; (1970) 123 CLR 334; R v Toki(No 3) [2000] NSWSC 999; (2000) 116 A Crim R 536 at [69].
[8]R v Garner (1963) 81 WN (Pt 1) (NSW) 120 at 128-9 (CCA).
[9]R v Frawley (1993) 69 A Crim R 208 at 217 (NSW CCA); R v Clark [2001] NSWCCA 494; (2001) 123 A Crim R 506 at [143].
[10]Wilson v R [1970] HCA 17; (1970) 123 CLR 334; R v Frawlely (1993) 69 A Crim R 208 at 217 (NSW CCA); R v Toki (No 3) [2000] NSWSC 999; (2000) 116 A Crim R 536 at [85]; R v Clark [2001] NSWCCA 494; (2001) 123 A Crim R 506 at [143].
[11]Shaw v R [1952] HCA 18; (1952) 85 CLR 365 at 377; R v Hissey (1973) 6 SASR 280 at 289 (CCA); R v Toki (No 3) [2000] NSWSC 999; (2000) 116 A Crim R 536 at [85]; R v Clark [2001] NSWCCA 494; (2000) 123 A Crim R 506 at [143]
[12]R v Mathews (1990) 58 SASR 19 at 32 (CCA).
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