Evidence

Witnesses
- Legally ordered to appear in court to present their directs or circumstantial evidence
(witness for prosecution)
- Summons in magistrates court
- Subpoena in District or Supreme court

Types of Evidence
All types of evidence must be considered by the jury.
- Verdict of guilty should be the ONLY rational inference that could be drawn from the
circumstances.

Direct Evidence
- Proves a fact directly.
- E.g. a witness testifies something which they saw or heard

Circumstantial Evidence
- Evidence of circumstances or indirect evidence
- Pointing to the existence of a fact
- Doesn’t prove a fact directly.
- Inference made about the likelihood of the scenarios presented.

Types of Evidence (categories)

1) Oral evidence
a. Presented by witnesses in person
2) Documentary Evidence
a. Form of documents produced
i. E.g. death certificate, bank statement, security footage
3) Real evidence
a. Physical objects that a relevant to proving either party’s case (marked
individually)
i. E.g. Exhibit A: a knife; Exhibit B: blood stained clothes

Inadmissible Evidence
Evidence not allowed in a courtroom
- Irrelevant evidence
- Hearsay evidence
o words another person has said given by a witness
- Opinion evidence
- Privileged communications
- Character evidence
- Evidence that is illegally or unfairly obtained

Admissible Evidence
When a judge or magistrate decides that it complies with the rules of evidence