People v Stafford

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judgment Date: 01 January 1983
• Date: 01 January 1983
• Docket Number: [C.C.A. No. 11 of 1981]
• Court: Court of Criminal Appeal

The People v. Stafford

The People (at the Suit of the Director of Public Prosecutions)

and

James Stafford

[C.C.A. No. 11 of 1981]

Court of Criminal Appeal

Criminal law - Evidence - Identification of accused - Visual identification of accused as culprit - Dangers involved in accepting such identification - Accused known to witness prior to commission of offence - Verdict of jury dependent upon accuracy of identification - Judge's charge to jury not containing warning of such dangers - Conviction set aside and new trial ordered.

The accused was tried before a judge and jury in the Central Criminal Court on an indictment charging him with shooting with intent to resist arrest. The jury returned a verdict of guilty and the accused was sentenced to eight years penal servitude. The verdict of the jury depended upon their acceptance of the accuracy of the testimony of a policeman who had known the accused prior to the commission of the offence charged in the indictment, and who gave evidence at the trial identifying the accused as being the person present at the time and place of that offence. In reliance upon the fact that the witness had known the accused prior to the date of the offence, the trial judge did not include in his charge to the jury the standard warning of the danger inherent in the uncritical acceptance of such evidence. The accused applied to the Court of Criminal Appeal for leave to appeal against his conviction.

Held by the Court of Criminal Appeal (Hederman, Hamilton and Keane JJ.), in granting the application and treating the hearing of the application as the hearing of the appeal, 1, that the failure of the trial judge to give the jury the standard warning of the dangers involved in visual identification rendered his charge to the jury a misdirection.

The People (Attorney General) v. Casey (No. 2) [1963] I.R. 33 applied.

2. That the appeal should be allowed and the conviction of the accused set aside.

3. That the accused should be re-tried for the same offence.

Cases mentioned in this report:—

¹ R. v. Turnbull [1977] Q.B. 224.

² The People (Attorney General) v. Casey (No. 2) [1963] I.R. 33.

³ R. v. Keane (1977) 65 Cr. App. R. 247.

⁴ R. v. Oakwell [1978] 1 W.L.R. 32.

⁵ R. v. Virgo (1978) 67 Cr. App. R. 323.

Criminal Appeal.

The accused, James Stafford, was tried on the 17th and 18th February, 1981, in the Central Criminal Court before a judge and jury on an indictment containing six counts. The third count charged him with shooting with intent to resist arrest, contrary to s. 18 of the Offences Against the Person Act, 1861. The sixth count charged him with possession of a firearm in suspicious circumstances, contrary to s. 27A, sub-s. 1, of the Firearms Act, 1964. On the 18th February, 1981, the accused was convicted of the offences charged in the third and sixth counts; his application to the trial judge for a certificate of leave to appeal was refused. The accused applied to the Court of Criminal Appeal pursuant to s. 31 of the Courts of Justice Act, 1924, for leave to appeal against his convictions. The jurisdiction of the Court of Criminal Appeal to direct a retrial derives from the provisions of s. 5 of the Courts of Justice Act, 1928.

The accused's application was heard on the 30th November, 1981, by the Court of Criminal Appeal (Hederman, Hamilton and Keane JJ.) and was granted on that date, when the court treated the hearing of the application as the hearing of the appeal and allowed the appeal.

The judgment of the Court of Criminal Appeal, stating the reasons for allowing the appeal, was delivered by one of the members of the court in accordance with s. 28 of the Courts of Justice Act, 1924.

Hederman J.

The accused, James Stafford, was convicted in the Central Criminal Court on the 19th February, 1981, of the offences charged at the third and sixth counts of the indictment preferred against him. He was sentenced to eight years penal servitude in respect of the third...