EVIDENCE OF BLOOD RELATION OF VICTIM AND OR DECEASED PERSONLAWAND PRACTICE

Abstract

This paper examined the question whether blood relationship between the victim of the offence and the prosecution witness in the trial of the offender makes the witness either incompetent or a tainted witness. This is to clear the misunderstanding on the twin issues whether a relation of the victim is a tainted witness and or whether is it safe to convict on the uncorroborated evidence of a tainted witness. Using the doctrinal research method, the paper analysed statutory provisions on competence of witnesses and judicial decisions touching on different circumstances where conjugal or filial relatives or relations of the victim testified against a defendant and the attitudes of the Court towards such testimonies. The paper found that competence of witnesses is fixed by statute and that the Courts have consistently held that it is not in every case that blood relationship between the victim and the prosecution witness that it would be concluded that the witness is a tainted witness whose evidence is unreliable unless corroborated. The paper further found that from the body of judicial decisions, a tainted witness is not even an incompetent witness. The only thing is that the evidence of a tainted witness will at best be examined with a tooth comb. Thus, it was recommended that instead of defence arguing that testimonies of prosecution witnesses should be treated with caution or rejected because they are related to the deceased, they should concentrate on discrediting the evidence of the witness during cross-examination.