Semester 2 Week 5 - Witness statement Part III PDF

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Summary

This lecture dives deeper in the witness statement matter....

Description

Writing a Witness Statement Lecture 5 WITNESS STATEMENTS Witness statements are the accounts that witnesses gives. By writing it in a particular structured way, it helps the investigator to compare, contrast statements and find consistencies and conflicts. Taking statements underpins the good practice that requires planning, preparation and constant practice. There are many factors that affect your ability to conduct an interview, not least being your own personality and professionalism, but also all the barriers that we’ve mentioned before. The way the investigator comes across to a witness can make that instant connection and by doing that and building the rapport from the start, makes it much easier to gain as much information out of that witness as possible. ADVANTAGE OF GOOD STATEMENTS Advantages of statement include:

a

good

® Records information – it’s a way of getting that witness account and making sure it’s done in a consistent and practical way.

® Provides information on which investigative decisions are made – the more detail included the better. Details such as feelings, weather, things that can help key points further down in the investigation. ® Explains police action – the order to why the police officer did what

they did, it explains your actions and what led you to believe the suspect was involved and how you arrested them. ® Helps CPS – Helps the prosecutors to make informed decisions. Ultimately the CPS are the ones that decide whether there’s sufficient evidence for a case to be brought to trial. If the statement isn’t well written, then the CPS won’t have any evidence to make their decisions. ® Helps in cross examination at Court – the defence will have access to the statements. If everyone is entitled for a fair trial and if the defence finds missing details on the

statements, they have the right to cross examine the witness and ultimately call into question the quality of that evidence. ® Assists witness to refresh memory – Statements help witnesses recall their memory because of the delay that happens between the incident and the case going to trial. If the witness statement is well written, then the witness will easily be able to recall their memory in order to stand in court. ® Enables use of section 9 of CJA 1967 to save you attending court – this section deals with how a witness is required to attend court on the basis of the evidence that they provide. Affectively if a statement is written to such good quality to the point that is accepted by the court as accurate, factual and in such a detail, then the court may say there’s no need for the witness to attend in court. BARRIERS TO COMMUNICATION There’s a lot of barriers to communication when it comes to taking a witness statement such as: ® Dislike of the police

® Intimidation by the community ® Embarrassment ® Sympathy for the suspect ® Incident considered ‘too trivial’ ® Too busy to be interviewed ® Fear of going to court ® Negative previous experience WRITING A WITNESS INTERVIEW What is an MG11? MG11 stands for

Manual of Guidance, which is the folder where all the witness statements go to. When evidence is put to get there are forms numbered from 1-20. Are witness statements redacted? When the

statement is completed, some of the information could be restricted/redacted in case it is something that the investigators don’t want the defence having access to. For example, personal details.

What goes into the statement?

Unique Reference Number (UNR) – Every single court file that goes in is given a number pertinent to the UNR. The statement has the UNR for the whole file of the evidence (MG11) Name of the witness – we put the full name of the witness even though the investigator is the one that is writing it.

Age – if above 18, only put ‘above 18’. If they’re under 18, put the age. Occupation – able to establish if someone is an expert. Oath section “This statement (consisting of ……. pages each signed by me) is true to the best of my knowledge and belief and I make it knowing that, if it is tendered as evidence, I shall be liable to prosecution if I have willfully stated anything in it which I know to be false or do not believe to be true.”

This is extremely important as it outlines that people must tell the truth – their statement is a legal document and becomes evidence. If the witness is caught in perjury, then that statement can be used as evidence in a case against them. Witness recorded tick box Signature box Back of the statement is not disclosable for the defence!!!

information or belief is not within your direct knowledge. ® Not give opinions, unless you are an expert. ® Exhibit documentary evidence to support the statement made. ® Follow the chronological order of events.

® The structure is not concerned with what information is contained within the statement – only the order in which it is presented. ® Effective statement taking can only be achieved by thorough questioning of the witness by the person taking the statement using TED and 5WH questions. ® Evidential – it prompts the statement taker to cover the imperatives. ® It assists the reader to locate specific content within the statement.

Part 1 of Witness Statement What is it all about?

5 PART STRUCTURE OF WITNESS STATEMENT

This you are taking a witness statement it should: ® Be written in your own, in the first person. ® State facts within your personal knowledge, and if not specify the source of the

® In

this part, we want to immediately highlight to the reader what the statement is all about and it can refresh your witnesses memory at court straight away and also help CPS know what this statement is all about.

® It

introduces what the statement is about. It should be very brief (only one or two lines). Example: o “This is my account of my mobile phone being stolen when I was in Preston Town Centre”. o “This statement will record the details of an incident last night when I was assaulted on Wood St, Preston.” ® In one sentence, it gives you an overview of what the statement is all about. Part 2 of Witness Statement Who are the people involved? ®

Essentially, it only introduces

the main people that the witness will refer in the statement and their relationship to them. Usually starting with the victim. “Who was there and what was your relationship with them?” ® Are they involved in the statement? Are they relevant to the statement or can they create further inquiries to the police? ® This witness can include a brief summary of who they are and then include a brief explanatory sentence such… “I shall now introduce the people I will be mentioning in my statement”.

® Who

you

were

with,

what

particular time and who are they to you? ® The witness can only introduce people in this part of the statement that they knew before the incident. ® Example: “My name is xxx and I am a student at UCLAN, I attend three days a week. At the time of the incident, I was driving to campus. I drive a xxxx. At the time of the incident, I was with my best friend, xxxx, and another lad of my course, xxx. We all know each other well and share lifts to university.” ® If it’s someone that you don’t know particularly, you don’t mention them here. So, if the offender is not known, do not mention it here. Part 3 of Witness Statement Where are we? ® Introduces known places or

locations that the witness will be mentioning in their statement. It should provide full descriptive detail of the locus and include sketch plans if appropriate and relevant. ® Think of the locations that might trigger further actions. ® Include how well you know the area and why. If you

them a “tag” (green hoodie lad and blue baseball cap lad). My friend Sarah said “wow, they are in a hurry. Must be late for work” … that’s Sarah’s direct speech… I then watched them run down the hill towards the shops and as they ran further, I saw that the green hoodie lad kept looking backwards as if he was being chased by the lad in the blue baseball cap. He had a worried look in his face… here you are providing context to give that evidential value…

don’t know it very well, tell us what you remember.

Part 4 of Witness Statement What happened? ® This is the main bit of the

witness statement – it is a full detailed chronological account of the witness like watching a video of event detailed from the start to finish all detail from the event line. ® Fine grain detail in the witnesses own words direct speech where possible. ® It is important to not mix the parts. Make sure it is consistent from start to finish. Also, it is here where you will include the witnesses or suspects that you do not know. ® Example: “On the day of the incident, I was driving to university. … Discuss the route you took and why… I remember that the news had come on … helps pinpoint the time of the incident… I was stopped at the traffic lights at street name when a lad in a green hoodie ran across the road in front of my car, followed by another lad wearing a blue baseball cap about 5 second after. These lads are the subjects that you don’t know. Therefore, you give

Part 5 of Witness Statement The Final Word

® Here you would include full detailed description of the persons mentioned by the witness. You do not include this in part 4 because it would get confusion and disrupt the order of events. o o o o

Starting with the suspect Other relevant persons The witness themselves

o

Descriptions of weapons/vehicles or other objects, etc. Consent issues – “I did not give

o

permission for… etc etc”. Injuries described

o Value of property damaged or o

stolen Exhibits listed and described as per exhibit label

Describing People Where to start?

® When looking at describing people, there is a format easy to follow: o Skin colour o Sex o Age – include between x age and x age. And why did you think it was that age? o Height o Build o Hairstyle and Hair colour o Complexion o Things that stick in the mind of the witness – were they wearing spectacles, etc? o Clothing – head to toe

Describing Vehicles Where to start?

Make and model Colour Type Registration number – partial or full. ® Distinguishing features – roof rack, stickers, rust patches, missing mirror, etc. ® ® ® ®

R v Turnbull If identification is an issue…

® You must include full descriptions in the statement and the witness must use the Turnbull factors which are summarised by the acronym ADVOKATE. A - Amount of length of time the witness had the suspect under observation. D – Distance between the witness and the suspect during the observation. V – Visibility conditions during the observation. Was your view obstructed? How was the weather? O – Obstructions to the observations – whether they temporarily or partially inhibited the observation. K – Whether the suspect is known to the witness in any way A – Any particular reason the witness has for remembering the suspect or event. T – Time the witness had the suspect under observation and the amount of time elapsed since the event. E – Errors in the description provided by the witness compared with the actual appearance.

What you must NEVER include in a statement

® Your witness statement must neve include any of the following: o Subjective and prejudicial comments for example: ‘the defendant in my view, is guilty’ or ‘the defendant is a criminal type’. o Personal views which cannot be objectively tested for example ‘he appeared to be drunk’. o Prejudicial (opinion formed beforehand) matters not relevant to the case, for example: mention of previous convictions or informant details. o “I would recognise the person again” because if they don’t identify them in the identification parade, the credibility of the witness will be put in question. ® Things you must avoid using in a statement: o Jargon or language that others may not understand, where you have to use it you should explain what it means.

o Ambiguities, contradictions or gaps which may be revealed on cross examination. o Irrelevant facts or information. o Hearsay unless you clearly identify it as this o Anything that might be seen as expert opinion unless you/they are!...