Can a case be thrown out of court because the accusers 2 accounts of the incident dont match up?

Question

The accuser has written 2 accounts of the incident which do not match each other, obviously showing that he is lying.Can a magistrate throw the case out on the basis that they dont know which version of the accusers story to use?

Answer 1

It would depend on how different the statements were and what the case was about and when was the first statement was taken the state of mind was the aggrieved party in?

For example say the aggrieved had just been violently robbed 20 minutes earlier and a statement was taken when they were upset, stressed, confused and excitable and then one was taken a few days later when they calmer and collected, then there would be noticable differences in the statements.


Also depends on the weight of other evidence but there is no yes/no answer on this because there is too little details at this time but it could be a contributing factor in throwing a case out but it would be weighed up against why there is significant differences in the statement and if it was down to say my "robbery" example or similar then i would suggest they would take that into account as the reason for such differences.

Answer 2

Depends how big the discrepencies are:- 10 people witness an incident, you will get ten slighlty different stories. Some will say he/she had a red top while one or two others will say he/she had an orange top. Thats the nature of evidence gathering and you shift through and somewhere in the middle will be the truth.
Just because two accusers accounts aren't exactly the same doesn't mean that what they are saying hasn't happened, it may just mean the two people have two slightly different prospectives on what actually happened.
It doesn't mean that a case will be dropped or thrown out of court.
It's the CPS's responsibilty to ensure that there is enough evidence for a succesfull prosecution in court before authorising the police to charge a person.

Answer 3

I believe that if you are subpoenaed to court then you must show up regardless of whether you are being accused or not. I think that you will punished if you don't show up for court because that is the law in this country. Any if you are accused of something and you didn't do it then you have a right to defend yourself. If you are accused and you did do it then you should take your punishment for the wrong act.

Answer 4

he could be charged with filing a false police report, purgery, tampering with evidence, tampering with government documents(giving that they could prove he intentionally falsified/tampered). On the other hand, it doesn't mean that the accuser is lying. It could mean that he remembered more facts to the case, etc. A case is not easily thrown out just because 2 stories didn't match.

Answer 5

their testimony can be dismissed, but it depends on the weight of the rest of the evidence as to wether the case is dismissed. If there is other outweighing evidence, it would be wise for the prosecutor to not use this evidence as it may lead the way to a successful appeal.

Answer 6

Unsure but Ill let you know what happens to my hubby areter his trial on Thursday - which has a lot of things that are lies and dont match up with what he has been accused of

Answer 7

Depends how the amended statement is worded. On the face of things he is an unreliable witness

Answer 8

It depends how badly the accounts don't match.

I mean we're dealing with human memory here.

Answer 9

A complainant whose testimonies are not credible could be a basis for the dismissal of a case.

Answer 10

I would say yes.

In America it is called "reasonable doubt" since there is no clear cut evidence against the defendant.


g-day!