Page 367 - Magistrates Conference 2019

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c. to produce the exhibits at the trial.

Trinidad and Tobago

Subject to subsection (2), in any criminal proceedings a photograph of any object may be
admitted in evidence as prima facie proof of the identity of that object, provided that the

photograph is supported by a certificate signed by the photographer before a Justice of the Peace

authenticating the photograph as being a true image of the object aforesaid. Subsection (2) states:
The photographer shall be required to give evidence of the procedure adopted by him to produce

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the photograph.
Section 63 of the Summary Courts Act Chap. 4.20 prescribes the manner of hearing summary

complaints. If the defendant says that he is not guilty, the Court shall then proceed to hear the
complainant and such witnesses as he may examine, and such other evidence as he may adduce,

in support of his complaint, and also to hear the defendant and such witnesses as he may

examine, and such other evidence as he may adduce, in his defence, and also, if the Court thinks
fit, to hear such witnesses as the complainant may examine in reply, if the defendant has

examined any witnesses or given any evidence. The complainant shall not be obliged to give
evidence in support of his complaint, but if he wishes to give evidence he may do so at any time

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before his case is closed.
Section 63A of the Summary Courts Act Chap. 4:20 governs the admissibility of written

statements. A document or an object referred to as an exhibit and identified in a written
statement tendered in evidence under this section shall be treated as if it had been produced as an

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exhibit and identified in Court by the maker of the statement.
Where a written statement, admitted in evidence under section 63(4), refers to any document or

object as an exhibit, that document or object shall wherever possible, be identified by means of a
label or other mark of identification signed by the maker of the statement and before the

75 Blackstone's Criminal Practice 2017 > Part F Evidence > Section F8.46 Documentary Evidence and Real Evidence > Real
Evidence > Tangible Objects
76 Trinidad and Tobago Evidence Act – Chap. 7.02, section 14A
77 Trinidad and Tobago – Summary Courts Act Chap. 4:20, section 63(4)
78 Trinidad and Tobago – Summary Courts Act Chap. 4:20, section 63A(7)
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