Where a witness admits making a prior inconsistent statement, the statement cannot be proved under s 18 of the Evidence Act 1977 (Qld), and a trial judge cannot direct the Crown to read portions of the statement to the jury in re-examination. A trial judge's intervention in the presence of the jury suggesting that defence counsel's cross-examination was unfair, where the questions were proper, may constitute a miscarriage of justice by undermining the forensic use of the inconsistency on the central issue of credibility.
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