In a criminal trial, absent a statutory defence casting a legal onus on the accused, it is erroneous to direct a jury that a factual finding which may favour the accused need only be established on the balance of probabilities. However, where such an erroneous direction is given at defence counsel's request and the evidence to which it relates is incapable of raising a reasonable possibility favourable to the accused, no miscarriage of justice results. The coincidence of an accused's fingerprints at two distant locations connected with a crime (the crime scene and the getaway vehicle) constitutes powerful circumstantial evidence capable of supporting a conviction beyond reasonable doubt, even where the victim has identified another person and excluded the accused.
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