Page 363 - Magistrates Conference 2019

A judge may, of his own motion, call or recall any competent person as a witness and examine
the person in any manner he things fit, and may call for and compel the production of any

document or other evidence, and may impound any document or other thing he considers
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material.

In The State v Solomon (1982) 33 WIR 149 the defendant was charged with possession of a piece
of paper (exhibit D) bearing the impression of a currency note without lawful authority or

excuse.

Where this exhibit (Exhibit D) was lost during the course of the trial, the defence made an

application to stop the trial, the court held that the prosecution was only required to show that the

exhibit bore an impression of a Bank of Guyana $1 note. Accordingly, the appellant had not been
prejudiced by the loss of exhibit D and there were no grounds for the dismissal of the the charge.

Jamaica

The Evidence Act 1843 Section 52 states that at any preliminary investigation held by a court into

fact which constitute an indictable office, and which may necessitate the sending on of an
accused person for trial, such court may, for the purpose of determining whether to dismiss the

charge or send on the accused for trial, accept as evidence at that stage, the certificate of a
statutory analyst, purporting to be signed by him as such, as prima facie evidence of the matters

therein contained: Provided that the receptacle containing the thing analysed and in respect of

which the certificate is given, had its seals or other fastening un-injured at the time it was
delivered to the analyst.

In Kevon Black v R [2014] JMCA Crim 36, the appellant was convicted in the Resident
Magistrates Court for breaches of the Dangerous Drugs Act, namely, unlawfully dealing with,

possession of, and attempting to export the dangerous drug cocaine. At trial, a forensic report
was produced in respect of DNA samples obtained from the appellant’s clothes which were said

to be ‘similar’ to DNA obtained from pellets containing the cocaine (all of which were found in a

room in which the appellant was taken for investigation). One of the questions raised on appeal

73 Guyana – Evidence Act Cap. 5.03, section 8
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