R v B (CA325/04)

The case before the Court of Appeal of New Zealand involves two police constables, B and A, who are appealing against pre-trial rulings made by Judge Mackintosh on August 12, 2003. Both appellants face trial on charges of assault under section 196 of the Crimes Act 1961, with B having already been tried summarily for an alleged assault in an interview room at the Wellington Police Station. They both seek exclusion of the evidence relating to the interview room incident and, in the alternative, severance of the trials.

The central legal issues concern the admissibility of evidence under the res gestae doctrine, the exclusion of similar fact evidence, and the appropriateness of severance of trials. The appellants argue that the alleged assault in the interview room should be excluded as it represents a significant break in the sequence of events and is highly prejudicial. They also contend that the video interview amounts to an inadmissible prior consistent statement. The Crown, on the other hand, argues that the interview room incident is part of the res gestae and should be admitted as it provides context and motive for the earlier assaults.

The Court of Appeal, in granting leave to appeal and allowing the appeals, found that the evidence relating to the interview room incident is inadmissible. The court concluded that there was a significant temporal and spatial break between the events in Brooklyn and the police car, and those that occurred after the arrival at the police station. The prejudicial effect of the evidence was deemed to outweigh its probative value, particularly for B, as the evidence was likely to distract the jury from the central issues. The court also found that the video interview amounted to an inadmissible prior consistent statement and was not part of the res gestae.

The final orders of the Court of Appeal are that leave to appeal is granted, the appeals allowed, and the evidence relating to the interview room incident is ruled inadmissible. The issue of severance of trials is no longer live in the circumstances.