Section A – Compulsory, answer all parts – 2000 words
Monika lives with her brother, James, in a ground floor flat in London. Her brother is unreliable and has sold drugs in the past. Monika has been in a relationship with Derek, who lives next door for a year.
James has lost his job and he is desperate for money to pay his bills. He has started selling drugs for their neighbour, Derek, without Monika knowing. The people he sells drugs to are his friends and one day, whilst Monika is abseiling down the side of a building, he has a party in the flat. James ends up giving his drugs away at the party.
The next morning, he realises that he has no drugs to sell and worst of all no money to give to Derek. After ignoring Derek’s telephone calls, he finally answers the phone and explains to Derek what has happened, hoping that he will give him some extra time to get the money together that he owes. Unfortunately, Derek is in a bad mood and tells James he has until the end of the day, otherwise something horrible will happen. James panics and runs away.
When Monika gets home, she puts her key in the lock and, as she opens the door, someone grabs her from behind and puts a pillow over her head. She is dragged down the hall and out the fire exit where she is put into a van and has her hands and feet tied together.
The van is driven off with her in it. It comes to a stop in an alley, and she is kept in the van for what seems like hours when someone finally opens it. As she is lifted out, the pillow falls off her head. Monika sees her kidnapper is actually Derek. She starts screaming and shouting, Derek panics and drops Monika, who falls heavily and breaks her leg. He then runs off.
Monika, in shock and pain, manages to untie her hands and retrieve her mobile phone from her pocket. She dials 999 and, screaming and crying down the phone, tells the police she was kidnapped by her boyfriend, Derek, but he has run off and she is stranded in an alley.
When two police officers eventually find Monika sobbing, she tells them that Derek put a pillow over her head and kidnapped her in his van. She says, “Derek did this to me, he is extremely dangerous”. Her statements are recorded on the police officers body-worn cameras. The police recover Derek’s van at the scene and also obtain some CCTV footage from a nearby shop.
Monika is too terrified to come to court and give evidence and re-live the incident. The prosecution wants to adduce her statements as evidence against Derek.
Assuming that Monika’s statements when she dials 999 and to the police officers amount to hearsay, discuss the relevant gateway that the prosecution will rely on to adduce the statements.
You should also discuss the human rights implications that flow from an accused’s inability to cross-examine the witness?
The Mahmood family live in the flat directly above Monika’s. Ahmed aged 5 was playing in his bedroom at the back of the property when he heard a commotion outside the property. He looked outside through the large window in his room and saw immediately below him a man he recognised as his neighbour Derek dragging someone into the back of his van, which was parked in the back yard with its doors open.
He saw that the person who was being dragged along the floor, had their hands and feet tied together and a pillowcase over their head so he could not see their face, but he recognised Monika’s distinctive purple coat, which she always wore. Ahmed likes Monika as she sometimes looks after him when his parents go out, but he does not like Derek who shouts at him for leaving his toys out in the communal area of their flats. He told his older brother Tariq aged 12 what he had seen and told him that they should call the police as Derek was hurting Monika.
Tariq was busy playing Fortnite so told his brother to stop making stuff up and did not look out of the window to check what his brother had told him. Tariq thought no more about it until a police officer knocked on their door later that night asking if they had seen anything, then he realised that his brother may have been telling the truth and told the police and their parents what Ahmed had seen earlier.
Discuss the issues which arise when dealing with child witnesses and detail what special measures may be appropriate to allow them to give their best evidence in this case.
Also Consider whether or not 5 year old Ahmed or 12 year old Tariq would be suitable witnesses in this case. Detail what type of evidence each of the brothers could give and whether there are any particular evidential issues, which would arise in relation to their evidence – for example, is their evidence direct or circumstantial? Are there any further potential issues regarding hearsay? Is the identification evidence in this case reliable?
Section B – Answer ONE of the following – 2000 words
Whether you confess or remain silent, the provisions to protect defendants are inadequate and lead to miscarriages of justice.
Critically discuss this statement.
