A trial judge's directions under s 165 of the Evidence Act 1995 on the unreliability of an accomplice witness are to be assessed by reference to the summing-up as a whole, including warnings given during the trial when evidence was tendered, and need not repeat every specific matter in the formal summing-up. A comment that there is 'no explanation on the evidence' for the presence of documents does not constitute an impermissible comment on the accused's failure to give evidence under Azzopardi. Rule 4 will be applied to refuse leave where no objection was taken at trial and no convincing reason is shown for the failure, particularly where the summing-up as a whole was comprehensive.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 5 later cases that cite this judgment.