A formal signed police statement made approximately 24 hours after an assault is capable of being characterised as made 'shortly after' the asserted fact for the purposes of s 65(2)(b) of the Evidence Act. The formal circumstances of the statement's making — including the declarant's awareness of potential prosecution for false statements and the existence of other witnesses — are relevant to whether fabrication was unlikely. A trial judge's direction to the jury to first determine the facts before applying the self-defence test does not constitute a misdirection where the directions as a whole clearly convey the Crown's burden to exclude self-defence.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 31 later cases that cite this judgment.
4 of the 31 citing cases carry a classified treatment. How each court treated it is available to signed-in members.