Where police deliberately withhold from a suspect information that a solicitor has been engaged on their behalf, this constitutes conduct that is 'to be deprecated' and may ground exclusion of confessional evidence on either unfairness or public policy grounds. However, where the trial judge finds the confession was voluntary and the accused would have confessed regardless of legal advice, the discretion to admit the evidence is not necessarily vitiated by the merging of the unfairness and public policy discretions, provided both are in substance addressed. The case highlights the importance of police compliance with the spirit of the PPRA and Responsibilities Code regarding suspects' access to legal representation.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 4 later cases that cite this judgment.
1 of the 4 citing cases carry a classified treatment. How each court treated it is available to signed-in members.