ABSTRACT
The Court of Appeal has endorsed the English Turnbull Rules on identification evidence. In State v Michael Greene and Walter Alleyne, Criminal Appeal Nos 24 and 25 (1978), decided on 24 May 1979, Massiah JA summarized these rules as follows:
First, there is the requirement that the judge should warn the jury of a special need for caution before convicting the accused in reliance on the identification evidence of one witness, and even where more than one witness identifies him; and he should go on to explain the reason why such caution is needed. He should also refer to the possibility that a witness might be positive and sure of his identification and still be honestly mistaken. This special need for caution must be directed in fit cases even when the identification was made after a long period of observation or in satisfactory conditions by a relative or a neighbour or a close friend or a workmate or the like. For mistakes in identification have been known to occur even in such cases. Secondly, the jury must be told to examine closely the conditions under which the witness or witnesses saw the person identified as the accused at the trial.
