Following Smith v The Queen [2001] HCA 50, evidence of prison or police officers identifying a suspect from security camera footage is inadmissible where the witnesses are in no better position than the jurors to make the relevant comparison. The primary enquiry is relevance, not the opinion rule or discretionary exclusion. Where the video tape is missing on appeal, the appellate court cannot assess the critical issue and the conviction cannot stand. The precise boundaries of when witnesses have a positional advantage over jurors remain unresolved.
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