Computor generated evidence in court

Submitted by: Mason

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The law admits evidence only if it complies with the rules governing admissibilityComputer output is only admissible in evidence where special conditions are satisfiedThese conditions are set out in detail in section 69 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) 1984 (see further Nyssens 1993, Reed 1993 and Tapper 1993). In general the principles of admissibility are that the evidence must be relevant to the proof of a fact in issue, to the credibility of a witness or to the reliability of other evidence, and the evidence must not be inadmissible by virtue of some particular rule of law (Keane 1994, pp 15-20; Tapper 1990, pp 51-61). Real evidence usually takes the form of some material object (including computer output) produced for inspection in order that the court may draw an inference from its own observation as to the existence, condition or value of the object in questionAlthough real evidence may be extremely valuable as a means of proof, little if any weight attaches to it unless accompanied by testimony which identifies the object in question and explains its connection with, or significance in relation to, the facts in issue or relevant to the issue This is illustrated in the case of R v Wood (1982) 76 Cr App R 23 where the appellant was convicted of handling stolen metalsIn order to prove that metal found in his possession and metal retained from the stolen consignment had the same chemical composition cross-checking was undertaken and the figures produced were subjected to a laborious mathematical process in order that the percentage of the various metals in the samples could be stated as figures