Reassessing Principal Exception of Hearsay: The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) Clarifies the Threshold of Reliability in R v Charles
Truth in a criminal court is often delivered second-hand. Truth is mentioned through stories, vague statements, whispers, and recollections. But what happens when those second-hand truths are considered admissible without ever being tested? R v Charles compelled the courts to confront this question. The case examines whether a witness’s out-of-court statement possessed indicia of reliability and whether the evidence is considered admissible if the witness cannot recall the st
Case Summary: R v Weldekidan
The case of R v Weldekidan deals with a number of important issues related to criminal law, for example the admissibility of victim statements procured during a vulnerable state. The trial judge refused to allow the evidence because she believed that the reliability of the statements was suspect, mainly due to the fact that the statements had been procured in hospital, while the victims were highly medicated.
