Primary Examination for the Bachelor of Laws

QUESTION FIVE:

The trial Judge ruled the evidence of each complainant cross-admissible on the other charges and refused the application for severance.Did the judge err in so ruling?

15 MARKS

Propensity – Similar Fact – Application of Pfennig/Hoch Tests – The probative relevance of the evidence lies in the improbability of such similar accounts unless the events (allegations) did in fact take place (and, to the extent ID is in issue, those events took place at the hands of the accused). Close attention to similarities between counts therefore the import of the question to establish whether the use of the evidence in that way is sufficiently probative to overcome the exclusionary rule. There is nothing to suggest concoction. Counts 2-5 are probably cross-admissible but Count 1 should likely be severed.

At trial, the Crown will also seek to call Vanessa Williams (VW) to testify in accordance with her statement, a summary of which is as follows:

D and I dated for a few months in the first half of 2008. We’d often go for drives in his cab on his days off. Really, I think that’s what attracted me to him in the first place – the idea of riding around in a taxi for free. Anyway, we were driving down to the beach on a Saturday,it was early in March of 2008 I think. Suddenly a car pulled out in front of us and D had to slam the brakes on. We avoided the accident but after, I noticed a small, silver knife under D’s legs on the driver’s side. It must have slid out from under the seat when he put the brakes on. I asked D why he had a knife in the car. He said he carried it for protection at night because you ‘never know who you’ll pick up’. Not too long after that, probably late March,our relationship came to a fairly nasty end.Riding in his taxi had lost its appeal and, frankly, I thought D was a bit of a ‘no-hoper’. He was still sharing a flat with a friend, like they were just out of high school. I remember telling D that I was looking for someone who could offer me a little more ‘financial security’ for the future. We had a big fight about money and, well, his lack of it. I remember telling him there was no way a man of ‘his means’ could ever hope to be with a woman like me. I took out my purse and said, ‘see I have more money just to go to the shops than you make in a week!’ D went into a rage when I did that and slapped me across the face. I never spoke to him again. I guess it was a bit of a horrible thing to say, but his reaction was over the top.

The Defence object to VW giving evidence in these terms.