Supreme Court
6th April, 1979
Staine, J.

Criminal Law - Evidence - Admissibility of caution statement - Statement - Statement given voluntarily with no threat, pressure, inducement or force used against the accused.

R U L I N G

[ON ADMISSIBILITY OF A STATEMENT]

Objection has been taken in this case to the introduction in evidence of a statement alleged by P.C. 211 Robinson to have been taken from the accused Nicholas Baptist on the 6th of July, 1978.

P.C. Robinson in his evidence said that he cautioned the accused at the C.I.B. office and thereafter asked him if he wished to make a statement concerning the 8 track tapes. P.C. Robinson also said that he obtained the statement from the accused Baptist who gave it voluntarily and that no threat, pressure, inducement or force was used against the accused by himself or anyone in order to obtain the statement. The statement was given voluntarily. In cross-examination P.C. Robinson, the accused asked if in fact he, the accused Baptist, had not been taken behind a typist's desk in the C.I.B. office to which P.C. Robinson replied "That was not so."

In giving evidence on his own behalf, the accused said that the statement was taken from him on the 7th of July and that he had been subjected to brutalization. Elaborating on this, he said that he had been taken outside of the C.I.B. Office through a door leading to a room behind the typist's desk and there he was beaten up with a nylon rope and a plastic tube by P.C. Vaughan and Itza, and he also suggested that Sgt. Eduardo Reyes, who gave evidence in this case, had participated in this beating up. The accused said that thereafter he was brought back into the C.I.B. Office, taken into Inspector Gillett's Office and then taken out again and beaten up a second time. Thereafter, he was taken across to the Patrol Branch and on the following day he was taken to the Prison where he showed the Prison Officer that he was suffering from bruises and swellings. He also indicated that he had been seen by a doctor.

Alluding to the accused's evidence, it appears from his statement which was alleged he gave to P.C. Robinson that nowhere in that statement he mentions the 8 track tapes about which the constable was making specific enquiries, and in view of the evidence of the witness Roberto Aldana who gave evidence in this case, it is difficult to understand how the accused could have failed to mention this factor.

The second point of difference is that the accused is saying that the statement was taken from him on the 7th of July, whereas the statement before the Court is dated the 6th of July and bears the accused's signature. The third point in which I would allude is that the accused failed to cross-examine Sgt. Reyes concerning the alleged beating which Sgt. Reyes had inflicted on him and also failed to cross-examine P.C. Robinson concerning being behind the typist's desk. I find his explanations unsatisfactory.

The whole tenor of the accused's statement is in tone exculpatory and does not appear to implicate him in the commission of any crime. This is so particularly when he fails to mention that he had sold 5, 8 - track tapes to Roberto Aldana whose evidence is already before the Court.

For these reasons, I find myself unable to accept the evidence of the accused. He does not appear to be a witness capable of telling the truth.

I accept the evidence of P.C. 211 Robinson and rule that the statement is admissible.