R v Ali

In the Court of Appeal of New Zealand, the case of R v Ali saw the appellant appealing against the admissibility of evidence in his upcoming trial for attempting to pervert the course of justice. The court was tasked with deciding whether certain evidence, particularly visual identification evidence from witnesses, was admissible under the new Evidence Act 2006 and whether it was obtained fairly. The appellant argued that the photo montage used for identification was unfairly incomplete and that his identification was obtained in unfair circumstances. The court examined the admissibility of the evidence under the new legislative framework and the common law principles that previously applied. The court found that the photo montage was a fair test and that the identification evidence was relevant and admissible, with any issues regarding its reliability to be determined by the jury. The court held that the evidence was more probative than prejudicial and thus upheld the decision of the lower court to admit the evidence. The appeal was dismissed.

The final order of the Court was that the application for leave to appeal was granted, but the appeal was dismissed. The Court also made an order prohibiting the publication of the judgment and the reasons therefor in the news media or on the internet or in any other publicly accessible database until the final disposition of the trial, with the exception of publication in a law report or law digest.