High Court of South Africa South Gauteng, Johannesburg - 2006

1 judgment

Court registries

  • Filters
  • Judges
  • Alphabet
Sort by:
1 judgment
Citation
Judgment date
May 2006
Whether prior sexual‑history evidence and limited expert opinion justified cross‑examination and whether rape was proved beyond reasonable doubt.
• Criminal law — Rape — consent and mens rea; evidential burden and reasonable doubt. • Evidence — s 227 Criminal Procedure Act — admissibility of complainant’s prior sexual history; relevance to consent, credibility and motive. • Evidence — expert opinion on trauma/freezing — differences between clinical and forensic assessment; required forensic testing. • Police procedure — admissibility and reliability of statements obtained during interviews; warnings and constitutional protections. • Criminal procedure — s 174 application for discharge; evaluation of totality of evidence and reasonable alternative hypotheses.
4 May 2006