Where the Crown leads extensive evidence of the deceased's fear of the accused as relationship evidence bearing on provocation and intent, the defence is entitled to lead counterbalancing evidence of the deceased's hostility and threats towards the accused, even if such evidence amounts to a verbal threat rather than evidence of actual violence. The weight of such evidence is a matter for the jury, not the trial judge. The proviso to s 568(1) cannot be applied where the excluded evidence bore on a significant plank of the Crown case and it cannot be said with certainty that the applicant did not lose a fair chance of acquittal.
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