Re R (Child Abuse: Video and Expert Evidence)
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 17 June 1994 |
| Court | Family Division |
JOHNSON, J
Evidence – child abuse cases – video recordings – expert evidence.
Procedure – child abuse cases – video recordings of interviews to be made available – experts to meet and prepare joint report before hearing.
At the conclusion of a hearing relating to the alleged sexual abuse of a child the Judge made comments as to video recordings and expert witnesses.
Video tapesVideo recordings were made of interviews of the child by the police and at a hospital. The police and the hospital refused to release the tapes and copies could not be obtained by the parents or their legal advisers. As a result doctors and lawyers had to travel to the police station and the hospital to watch the video recordings and some consultants had to base their opinions on a reading of the transcripts. This was unsatisfactory. Hospitals and police forces should review their procedures in relation to video recordings and make them available, usually to a solicitor, when they were required for court proceedings. The solicitor could be asked to give appropriate undertakings as to the use of the tape and breach of such undertakings would be dealt with severely by the courts. An unreasonable refusal by the police or a hospital to make a copy tape available could result in a court order for production plus an order for costs.
Expert witnessesIt was desirable that all expert medical witnesses met and prepared a joint report setting out the areas upon which they were agreed and those upon which they were not agreed. That report should then be made available to all parties.
This report is limited to the observations of the Judge relating to video recordings and expert evidence.
Stephen Bellamy and Caroline Lester for the local authority.
Eleanor Platt, QC and Catherine Jenkins for the mother.
Barry Singleton, QC and Jeremy Rosenblatt for the father.
Christian Bevington and Stuart Nichols for the guardian ad litem.
MR JUSTICE JOHNSON.This case is about a boy who is backward and, amongst other difficulties, has considerable learning difficulties. At school he was soiling and so in May 1992, when he was 10, arrangements were made by the school for him to be seen by the school doctor. The school doctor was very concerned by what he saw. The boy's anus was very dilated. The school doctor said it was the most dilated anus he had ever seen in his 20 years as a doctor. Naturally, and rightly, sexual abuse was suspected. Arrangements were made for a second medical opinion to be obtained. That opinion confirmed the observation of the school doctor, but raised the possibility that what was observed might be due to some organic cause.
...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Re R (Child Abuse: Video Evidence)
...of Court)[1994] 3 FCR 28. Khanna v Lovell White Durrant (a firm) [1994] 4 All ER 267. R (Child Abuse: Video and Expert Evidence), Re[1995] 2 FCR 573. Charles Bloom, QC and Karen McLaughlin for the father of the two children in the care proceedings and of the child in the private law Ann Bro......