Where a prosecutor is duty-bound to call an adverse witness whose evidence conflicts with the Crown case, the usual implications of unchallenged evidence do not arise. The trial judge is not bound to accept such evidence merely because it was not cross-examined, and the prosecutor may invite the court to reject the evidence by reference to inferences from other evidence, provided the limits on impeaching one's own witness are not overstepped. If the contrary were the law, a prosecutor's duty to call an adverse witness who speaks to the innocence of the accused would always result in acquittal.
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