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Supreme Court of Tonga |
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF TONGA
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION
NUKU’ALOFA REGISTRY
CR 23/05
REX
-v-
UOTA TU’IFUA
In this case after trial the Defendant was found not guilty on charges of rape and indecent assault. The trial was heard in camera under section 141 of the Criminal Offences Act; and in terms of section 119(1) of that Act, I made an order directing that the identity of the complainant and her evidence taken in the proceedings shall not be published in the Kingdom in a written publication available to the public, or be broadcast in the Kingdom.
While giving my reasons for the verdict I considered it appropriate to make the following general comments arising from the case:
Such cases therefore take up the time of the hard-pressed Supreme Court unnecessarily and I believe it is incumbent on the prosecution in allegations of sexual offences to review the evidence carefully before proceeding to trial to assess not only that the evidence which the witnesses will give will cover all the essential elements of the offence but that, viewed in the whole context, it is likely to be credible evidence. In addition I believe that the prosecution should be satisfied that what is being presented to the Court is the whole story, not just the parts of the story which the prosecution or the complainant wish to disclose or feel will secure a conviction.
In other words, just because a complainant states a complaint of an alleged offence, the process does not have to grind on inexorably until the Supreme Court reaches a decision – the process should be halted at an earlier stage if, in the light of the potential quality of the evidence, there is not a reasonable prospect of conviction. The prosecution should not shrink from doing so.
R M Webster
Chief Justice
30 March 2006
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URL: http://www.paclii.org/to/cases/TOSC/2006/11.html