Page 350 - Magistrates Conference 2019

clear days before the proceedings, serve upon the defendant written notice of such intention,
together with a copy of the certificate or report, and the defendant, at the commencement of the

proceedings, may object to the admission of the certificate or report, and may require the
attendance of the medical practitioner to give evidence on oath.

Nothing in this section contained shall be deemed to prejudice or take away the rights of the
defendant, or of the Court or Coroner, as the case may be, at any stage of the proceedings to

require the medical practitioner who has signed the certificate or report to attend and give

27
evidence on oath.

St Kitts and Nevis

The common law principles apply in that if an original document is available and can be
produced without any difficulty, it should be produced. If the original has been lost or destroyed,

or there is some other good explanation as to why the original cannot be produced, a copy may
be produced as it is the best evidence that is now available. The Best Evidence Rule relates to the

28
use of documents as evidence.

A “document” includes:

a. anything on which there is writing;

b. books, maps, plans, graphs, drawings and photographs;
c. any disc, tape, soundtrack or other device in which sound or other data, not being visual

images, are embodied so as to be capable, with or without the aid of some other
equipment, of being reproduced therefrom;

d. any film, microfilm, negative, disc, tape or other device on which one or more visual

images are embodied so as to be capable, with or without the aid of some other
29
equipment, of being reproduced therefrom;

27 Montserrat – Evidence Act Cap. 2.08, section 32(1)-(3)
28 St. Kitts and Nevis - Evidence Act No. 30 of 2011, sections 56- 62
29 St. Kitts and Nevis - Evidence Act No. 30 of 2011, section 1
12