| That the statement was false:
The Petitioner asserted that the statement that he was a victim of AIDS was false. The 1st Respondent, while not asserting that it was true, pleaded, by way of defence, that he had made the statement believing it to be true. In their respective submissions, counsel for both the Petitioner and the 1st Respondent were agreed that the burden of proof to establish that the statement was false, lay on the Petitioner. The latter submitted that the Petitioner had not adduced evidence to discharge that burden. Counsel for the Petitioner maintained that the burden had been discharged by the Petitioner’s own evidence that he was not a victim of AIDS. He submitted instead, that the 1St Respondent had not proved that the statement was true or that he had reasonable grounds to believe it to be true. The Evidence Act (Cap.43) provides general guidelines for determining, on whom the law places the responsibility to prove facts that need to be proved. Sections 100,101 and 102 of that Act read as follows:
100. Whoever desires any court to give judgment as to any legal right or liability dependent on the existance of facts, which he asserts, must prove that those facts exist. When a person is bound to prove the existance of any fact, it is said that the burden of proof lies on that person.
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