voire dire

The defendants were charged with kidnap, blackmail, various assaults including sexual assault on a male with one of the defendants charged with rape of the same victim. The trial lasted for just under 2 months and presented a myriad of problems to be overcome. The first was a legal matter relating to whether the complainant could have anonymity in respect of the sexual offences. Expert evidence was served late in relation to the download from a mobile phone on the very contentious issue of whether the defendant had photographed the sexual assault on his mobile phone. At one stage the crown’s expert refused to disclose how he had obtained the material quoting copyright problems with the program he had written. This evidence was eventually excluded after a voir dire