Elliott J declined to give an unreliable evidence direction under s 32 of the Jury Directions Act 2015 (Vic) in respect of a neurosurgeon witness who made errors during testimony due to the passage of approximately four years, finding good reasons not to do so under s 14(1). The Court held that the witness was not unreliable in any significant way because her errors were corrected during evidence and no party relied on the erroneous evidence, that the direction could be misleading, and that the defence failed to identify any specific material forensic disadvantage beyond speculative assertions. Standard credibility and reliability directions were considered adequate.
The full text is available to signed-in members.