{"id":9292,"date":"2018-04-04T12:46:26","date_gmt":"2018-04-04T16:46:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.doyonavocats.ca\/?p=9292"},"modified":"2019-07-28T10:17:40","modified_gmt":"2019-07-28T14:17:40","slug":"une-description-detaillee-dun-lieu-faite-par-un-temoin-nequivaut-pas-necessairement-a-une-preuve-confirmative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.doyonavocats.ca\/en\/une-description-detaillee-dun-lieu-faite-par-un-temoin-nequivaut-pas-necessairement-a-une-preuve-confirmative\/","title":{"rendered":"Une description d\u00e9taill\u00e9e d’un lieu faite par un t\u00e9moin n’\u00e9quivaut pas n\u00e9cessairement \u00e0 une “preuve confirmative” : R. v. T.W.S., 2018 BCCA 119"},"content":{"rendered":"

R. v. T.W.S., 2018 BCCA 119<\/a><\/p>\n

La Cour d’appel de la Colombie-Britannique rappelle qu’il est toujours loisible pour un juge d’accepter un t\u00e9moignage en l’absence de preuve confirmative. Toutefois, quand un juge base sa d\u00e9cision d’accorder de la cr\u00e9dibilit\u00e9 \u00e0 un t\u00e9moin sur le fait qu’il y a pr\u00e9sence d’une preuve confirmative, il commet une erreur si cette preuve ne r\u00e9pond pas \u00e0 la d\u00e9finition d’une preuve confirmative :<\/strong><\/h2>\n

[<\/a>37]\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 I take the trial judge to have used the expression \u201ccorroborating evidence\u201d to mean the type of evidence referred to by Justice K. Smith in R. v. Aksidan<\/i>, 2006 BCCA 258<\/span> (CanLII)<\/a> at para.\u00a044, 209 C.C.C. (3d) 423<\/span><\/span>, when he said:<\/p>\n

[T]he adjectives \u201ccorroborative\u201d, \u201cconfirmatory\u201d, and \u201csupportive\u201d, which, when applied to evidence, connote the adding of strength or reinforcement from an independent source for the truth and accuracy of the complainant\u2019s evidence…<\/p>\n

[<\/a>38]\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 Also pertinent is the following from the judgment of Justice Cromwell, then of the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal, in R. v. Dowe<\/i>, 2007 NSCA 128<\/span>(CanLII)<\/a> at para.\u00a040, 228 C.C.C. (3d) 75<\/span><\/span>, aff\u2019d 2008 SCC 55<\/span> (CanLII)<\/a>, [2008] 3 S.C.R. 109<\/span><\/span>:<\/p>\n

To be capable in law of constituting corroboration, the evidence must simply be independent evidence which is \u201c… capable of restoring the trier\u2019s faith in the relevant aspects of the witness\u2019 account\u201d: \u00a0R. v. Kehler<\/i>, [2004] 1 S.C.R. 328<\/span>, 2004 SCC 11<\/span> (CanLII)<\/a> at para.\u00a012<\/span>.\u00a0 Whether the evidence actually has that effect is for the trier of fact.<\/p>\n

[<\/a>39]\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 In my view, none of the evidence the trial judge treated as corroborative could properly be considered as such.\u00a0 This is not to say a trier of fact cannot consider the level of detail a witness is able to provide as enhancing that witness\u2019s credibility.\u00a0 This, however, is not equivalent to treating that detail as corroborative or confirmatory.<\/p>\n

De plus, une description d\u00e9taill\u00e9e d’un lieu faite par un t\u00e9moin est un fait neutre et non une preuve confirmative, \u00a0lorsque le lieu d\u00e9crit est un lieu qui a \u00e9t\u00e9 fr\u00e9quent\u00e9 \u00e0 multiples reprises par le t\u00e9moin :\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

[<\/a>40]\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 Mr.\u00a0S.\u2019s description of the living room furniture was consistent with that given by A.S.\u00a0 However, in order for Mr.\u00a0S.\u2019s evidence to be treated as confirmatory with respect to what occurred in the living room, A.S.\u2019s description of the furniture had to be more consistent with her version of events than with another version:\u00a0 R. v. Malik<\/i>, 2013 BCCA 265<\/span> (CanLII)<\/a> at para.\u00a059, 339 B.C.A.C. 76<\/span><\/span>; R. v. R.J.C.<\/i>, 2014 BCCA 184<\/span> (CanLII)<\/a> at para.\u00a035, 335 B.C.A.C. 314<\/span><\/span>.\u00a0 Given that A.S. lived in the house for several years, that she was able to accurately describe the furniture in the living room is a neutral fact.<\/p>\n

[<\/a>41]\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 Although the trial judge stated A.S. described the \u201cdetails of Mr.\u00a0S.\u2019s clothing\u201d, A.S. did no more than testify Mr.\u00a0S. was wearing boxer shorts under his pants the day of the living room incident.\u00a0 There was no other evidence that Mr.\u00a0S. wore boxer shorts.\u00a0 Accordingly, nothing confirms this aspect of A.S.\u2019s evidence; she cannot be her own corroborator.\u00a0 In addition, given that A.S. lived in the house, she was likely to have seen the style of underwear worn by other members of the household, at least in the laundry, if not otherwise.<\/p>\n

[<\/a>42]\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 The only evidence as to how the living room incident unfolded came from A.S.\u00a0 Although the fact A.S. provided a detailed description of what occurred was a factor to be considered in assessing her testimony, her evidence could not be treated as confirmatory of itself.<\/p>\n

[<\/a>43]\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 Last, that A.S. accurately described the surface of The Island was a neutral fact given the trial judge\u2019s finding that A.S. had been there on other occasions.\u00a0 In addition, the judge was in error when she said A.S.\u2019s evidence that The Island had no standing trees and only washed up logs was consistent with that given by both Mr.\u00a0S. and N.S. that trees would from time to time wash up on The Island \u201cor any other outcropping\u201d in the river.<\/p>\n

[<\/a>44]\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 Both A.S. and Mr.\u00a0S. testified there were no trees on The Island, only washed up logs.\u00a0 N.S., however, did not give evidence regarding trees or washed-up logs on The Island. \u00a0When asked if there were trees and plants on The Island, N.S. replied, \u201cIt\u2019s just a big rock.\u201d\u00a0 Further, although Mr.\u00a0S. said there were hundreds of \u201cpieces of land\u201d in the river, including one like The Island some distance away, neither he nor N.S. testified that logs washed up at those locations.\u00a0 Indeed, there is a dearth of evidence with respect to the outcroppings referred to by the trial judge.<\/p>\n

[<\/a>45]\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 Although it was open to the trial judge to accept A.S.\u2019s testimony in the absence of confirmatory evidence, it is clear the judge based her decision, in part, on what she erroneously considered confirmatory evidence.\u00a0 As the verdict would not necessarily have been the same had this error not occurred, there must be a new trial.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

R. v. T.W.S., 2018 BCCA 119 La Cour d’appel de la Colombie-Britannique rappelle qu’il est toujours loisible pour un juge d’accepter un t\u00e9moignage en l’absence de preuve confirmative. Toutefois, quand un juge base sa d\u00e9cision d’accorder de la cr\u00e9dibilit\u00e9 \u00e0 un t\u00e9moin sur le fait qu’il y a pr\u00e9sence d’une preuve confirmative, il commet une […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.doyonavocats.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9292"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.doyonavocats.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.doyonavocats.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.doyonavocats.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.doyonavocats.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.doyonavocats.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9292\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.doyonavocats.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.doyonavocats.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.doyonavocats.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9292"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.doyonavocats.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=9292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}