According to s 24 Evidence Act 1950 “A confession made by an accused person is irrelevant in a criminal proceeding if the making of the confession appears to the court to have been caused by any inducement, threat or promise having reference to the charge against the accused person, proceeding from a person in authority and sufficient in the opinion of the court to give the accused person grounds which would appear to him reasonable for supposing that by making it he would gain any advantage or avoid any evil of a temporal nature in reference to the proceeding against him.
It is based on the facts to determine whether there is an inducement, threat or promise to make the confession irrelevant. To identify if there is an inducement, threat or promise, 3 criteria must be fulfil as set out in section 24 that is, i. Relate to the charge against the accused ii. Proceed from a person from authority iii. Must be sufficient in the opinion of the court to cause a reasonable belief in the mind of accused that by making it he would gain an advantage or avoid an evil of temporal nature. No statement by an accused is admissible in evidence against him unless it is shown by the prosecution that the statement is made voluntarily which is supported by Ibrahim v R. This is accepted in DPP v Ping Lin which it was held that it is not necessary before a statement is held to be inadmissible because it is not shown to have been voluntary, that it should be thought or held that it was impropriety in the conduct of the person to whom it is made and that what has to be considered is whether a statement is shown to have been voluntary rather than one brought about in one of the ways referred to. What amount to oppressive circumstances which is a negative voluntariness are set out by the case of PP v Chan Choon Keong. i. Characteristic of accused ii. Period of time in during which he was questioned iii. Length of time during custody iv. Whether or not he was given the opportunity to rest and refreshment. PP v Naikan the facts that a police officer reminds a witness that he should tell the truth would constitute a threat but in PP v Ramasamy, it would be depends on the case. Person who is an authority is not mention by the act but it can be vary from situation where in Deokinanan v R, a person in authority is a person who has control over the accused in the proceeding. To relate with the oppressive circumstances, if the accused made the statement when he is interrogate by the police and after 5 hours interrogation without any rest and refreshment, he made the statement to escape from the situation because he believes that if he stays more in the interrogation, he would suffer from it, therefore the voluntarily statement only permanent for a period of time which is only temporal in nature. But the burden of proof to proof that such statement is to be made by the prosecution to proof beyond reasonable doubt that the statement is made voluntarily without any inducement, threat or promise. In Dato’ Mokhtar Hashim case, the classic testof admissibility of an accused confession it was made voluntarily in sense that it was not obtained from him either by fear or prejudice or hope of advantage created by person in authority or by oppression, should be applied in a manner. In conclusion, if all of the criteria in section 24 is complied with, the confession made cannot be used in the court as discussed above. Prepared by : Siti Nurhakimah (A130153) A presumption is an interference of a fact drawn from other known or proved facts. It is a jurisprudential rule under which courts are authorized to draw inference from a particular fact, unless and until the truth of such inference is disproved by other evidence.
The English law recognises 3 kinds of presumptions that is, i. Conclusive presumption of law ii. Presumption of law iii. Presumption of fact Presumptions are drawn from the cause of nature or events like night follows day; where a man with bloodstained clothes comes out of a room where another man has been stabbed to death. The inference is that the man coming out from the room is the murderer. Section 4 sets out what the court may presume. The presumption is used as device to either alter the normal rules on burden of proof or replace the need for evidence to be called on particular issues The issue of presumption, inference and the federal constitution was considered in the case of PP v. Chung Tshun Tin & Ors [2008] 1 MLJ 559. Hamid Sultan JC (as he was then) held that, Apart from the presumptions mentioned in s 107 to s 113, of the EA there is a large number of deductions under this section that the court may draw from the common course of natural events, human conduct, and the experience. The presumption here is at the discretion of the court and it is also rebuttable. The illustrations under the section are self explanatory, however they are not exhaustive. It will appear that there are no hard and fast rules with regard to the circumstances in which any fact or facts may be presumed to exist. Thus, the courts have to use their common sense and experience in judging the effect of particular facts and they are not subject to any particular rules to the subject. For further observation from the case can view it in Presumption: PP v. Chung Tshun Tin & Ors [2008] 1 MLJ 559 in cases section. By: SITI NURHAKIMAH A130153 | "The glow of one warm thought is to me worth more than money." The PartnersA group of law students sharing knowledge, thoughts, ideas and opinions CategoriesAll Archives |
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