Independent witness.

jpjman62

Hi all,

Im just wondering what exactly an independent witness is.I recently read a case in a paper where a judge dismissed a case because despite the fact there were several witnesses none of them were "independent" and because there was no CCTV footage of the incident he had no alternative but to dismiss the case.This is very strange to me.!

Reloc8

You'd have to have seen the case run to give an answer to that.

From what you say it sounds like one where the judge considered the evidence called by the prosecution when cross-examined together with the evidence if any called by the accused not to satisfy the required standard of proof 'beyond a reasonable doubt' of guilt.

For instance, if person A for the prosecution swears black and person B for the accused swears white, and both appear to be telling the truth, or at least there is the possibility that what each says could be true, and that is the only evidence in the case, it is difficult for a tribunal of fact (judge in the district court, jury in the circuit/central) to be satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt to convict in the absence of independent evidence which corroborates the prosecution evidence.

I suspect the Judge found him/herself in the position of finding that either of the prosecution or defence witnesses (if called) could have been telling the truth, or if no defence witnesses were called, that the prosecution witnesses may not have been telling the truth - and that the prosecution witnesses were not random bystanders but were sufficiently closely connected to the incident so as not to be independent.

That is not to say that CCTV evidence is required in all cases. This may have been a case in which CCTV evidence could have been available but was not sought or preserved - a problem generally left at the door of the prosecution, or even one where no CCTV facilities were in place where they might be expected to be - and the judge was commenting on what might have helped him/her to resolve the matter with greater certainty.

locustfurnace

I always thought an independent witness was someone who was not related to anyone involved in the case as in not a brother, sister, uncle, neighbour, work colleague, school mate, soccer buddies, girlfriend etc.....

ResearchWill

jpjman62 wrote: »

Hi all,

Im just wondering what exactly an independent witness is.I recently read a case in a paper where a judge dismissed a case because despite the fact there were several witnesses none of them were "independent" and because there was no CCTV footage of the incident he had no alternative but to dismiss the case.This is very strange to me.!

It sounds like an assault case, where 2 people charged with assault, the only witness being their mates, one side saying it was all the other guys fault and the other side saying the opposite, the judge decided he could not be sure beyond a reasonable doubt so dismissed the charges.

Independent witness are exactly that independent of all parties in the case. Say a guy walking his dog who happens to walk past.