Domestic assault accused walks free on ID
4 Mar 05
Children's references to "dad" did not corroborate partner
An accused has been cleared by the Criminal Appeal Court of assaulting his partner and son because of insufficient evidence that he was the perpetrator.
Barry Purawec won an appeal against his conviction at Paisley Sheriff Court on charges that he assaulted Karen Blakely and Barry Purawec Junior, then aged 10, at their home in the town in October 2003.
The Crown conceded the appeal but the court, Lord Hamilton, Lady Paton and Lord Clarke, insisted on a full hearing. Purawec had argued that the evidence of Ms Blakely, who identified him at trial, was not corroborated either by Barry Junior or by 16 year old Nichola Burns, Purawec's stepdaughter, who like the 10 year old was treated as a vulnerable witness and gave her evidence from behind a screen.
Each child had named the accused and confirmed their relationship to him but had not been asked to identify him visually. The sheriff upheld the Crown's argument that the children were separate sources of identification because both they and Ms Blakely had confirmed their relationship to the accused. But the appeal court accepted that because Ms Blakely was the only person who confirmed that Purawec was the person the children were referring to, and she was not an independent source being the only other identification witness, there was no corroborated proof.
Lord Hamilton, speaking for the court, said that although where the evidence of a child or other vulnerable witness was taken by live television link or from behind a screen, different considerations might arise from the general rule of practice there had been no suggestion in previous cases that the general principles of corroboration could be departed from.
"We would only add", he concluded, "that the outcome of this appeal should be noted by those who have responsibility for prosecuting cases which involve children or other vulnerable witnesses, for the taking of whose testimony special arrangements are being made. Particular attention requires to be given as to how proof of the identity of the perpetrator is in such cases to be established, whether under statutory procedures or otherwise."
The Vulnerable Witnesses (Scotland) Act begins to bring in, as from 1 April, further special measures to help children and vulnerable adults give evidence free from intimidation. One is that the court may allow evidence of a previous formal identification by a vulnerable witness to be used in place of identification in court.
The court's decision can be read in full at www.scotcourts.gov.uk/opinions/HCJAC20.html .