Measures to combat witness ‘amnesia’ will aid prosecutions

NEW laws to combat witness “amnesia” will help the State pursue prosecutions, a barrister suggests in a legal review.

The provision, introduced last year, allows witness statements to be admitted in court where a witness claims subsequently that they can’t remember what happened or refuses to give evidence.

The law was introduced by Justice Minister Michael McDowell after a number of high-profile cases collapsed due to “memory loss” among witnesses.

Intimidation of witnesses was blamed in many cases.

Section 16 of the Criminal Justice Act 2006 allows witness statements to be admitted as evidence of fact in certain situations, namely where:

*the witness subsequently refuses to give evidence.

*denies making the statement.

*gives evidence materially inconsistent with the statement.

In a review of the provision, barrister Genevieve Coonan said: “Section 16 is a useful prosecution tool as it allows the possibility of admitting statements where the bottom has literally fallen out of the case against the accused.”

Before the statement can be admitted it must also pass a number of reliability tests, including:

*witness confirms, or it is proved, he or she made the statement.

*the statement was made voluntarily.

*witness was recorded making the statement.

*statement was given on oath or the court is satisfied the witness understood the necessity to tell the truth.

Ms Coonan said Section 16 was introduced for cases where a witness conveniently claimed not to remember anything when testifying in court.

“However, it is arguable that the section does not go that far. In spite of these problems, it is clear that the section is nevertheless a prosecution tool of significant value,” she said.

Amnesia cases: failure to witness

May 2006: A sexual assault case collapsed after a witness said she remembered nothing of the incident. The woman had earlier claimed she saw the defendant on a woman.

October 2004: Four men charged with assault walked free after two witnesses suffered memory loss. Threats had allegedly been made to the witnesses’ families.

November 2003: Limerick gangland figure Liam Keane, charged with murder, walked free from court after six witnesses suffered “collective amnesia”.

November 2002: The DPP dropped a double murder charge against Mark Desmond after a protected witness who implicated him retracted her statement because she feared for her life.