ABSTRACT
There is a rule that evidence may not be given of the fact that a witness, on some occasion before the trial, made a statement that was consistent with his later testimony at trial. Such statements are usually referred to as ‘previous consistent statements’ and the rule is sometimes referred to as ‘the rule against narrative’. The purpose of the rule is to avoid a situation in which a potential witness might be tempted to manufacture evidence, and artificially increase the weight of what he says in court, by telling the same story to any number of people before the trial takes place. The application of this rule is illustrated by the decision of the Court of Criminal Appeal in R v Roberts.80 The defendant was tried for the murder of his former girlfriend by shooting her with a rifle. His defence was that the death had been an accident. At trial, the defence wished to call evidence from the defendant’s father to the effect that his son, shortly after being arrested, had told him that there had been an accident. The trial judge held this evidence inadmissible and was upheld by the Court of Criminal Appeal. Humphreys J said that the law was well settled: a party is not permitted to make evidence for himself.
