ABSTRACT
It may sometimes transpire that a witness who gave evidence at the committal proceedings may be unable to give evidence at trial. This may occur if the witness is dead, ill, insane, out of the country or cannot be found. In any such situation the prosecution may seek to tender the deposition of the absent witness as evidence in the trial (at the High Court). Statutory provisions10 throughout the region enable the tendering of depositions at trial if certain conditions are met. Invariably these conditions include proof that the defence must have had full opportunity to cross-examine the witness and that the deposition itself must have been taken in accordance with the statutory requirements. The relevant Grenada statutory provision, in s 198 of the Criminal Procedure Code, is representative of those in the region. It reads:
In some jurisdictions such as Antigua, Barbados, Dominica, Jamaica11 and St Kitts and Nevis, the legislation specifies that the deposition ‘shall’ be admitted in evidence. There appears to be no statutory discretion in the court to determine if the deposition should be admitted or not. In the other jurisdictions, the legislation admits of a discretion in stipulating that the deposition ‘may’ be admitted as evidence.
