Court of Appeal dismisses appeal of conviction for assault causing harm, where a witness had identified one of the three men who attacked the witness' boyfriend, but subsequently refused to identify him at trial, on the grounds that the trial judge properly admitted the witness' previous statement under the relevant legislation and properly dealt with that out of court statement in the judge's charge.
Criminal law – appeal of conviction for assault causing harm – s. 3 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997 – whether the judge erred in acceding to an application by the prosecution to admit an out of court statement from a witness pursuant to s. 16 of the Criminal Justice Act 2006 – having admitted the statement whether the judge’s charge when dealing with this issue with the jury was inadequate – whether the interests of justice are served by the admission or exclusion of the statement – witness had identified one of the three men who allegedly attacked the witness' boyfriend but subsequently at trial refused to identify him – trial judge’s decision to permit the prosecution avail of s. 16 of the Criminal Justice Act was one that was open to her – appeal dismissed.