Judge criticises Guernsey Police over "poor practice"

Thursday 21 June 2018

One of Guernsey's Magistrates has criticised Guernsey Police for the way officers gathered evidence in the case against a man he has found not guilty of assault and grievous bodily harm.

Judge Graeme McKerrell yesterday told Justin Batiste he was not guilty of two charges of assault against another man, and one charge of unlawfully and maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm against that man's wife.

A day long trial earlier in the week had heard evidence from the victims as well as another witness and Mr Batiste. However, Judge McKerrell said he could not be certain that anyone was telling the truth.

He said he had to be sure the prosecution witnesses in particular were telling the truth before deciding to convict someone of a crime. Judge McKerrell said he was not sure the married couple were and said there were considerable differences in the evidence they gave to the court. Based on that, he said he couldn't be sure what happened during the alleged incident at a shared residential property in St Peter Port in April as there were too many inconsistencies.

The married couple had both given evidence to Guernsey Police and to the Magistrates Court this week, stating they had been assaulted by the defendant. They said he had assaulted the man in the hallway of their shared property, before entering their flat and assaulting the man again and also assaulting his wife. 

Pictured: Guernsey's Magistrates Court 

There were discrepancies in the evidence relating to where the alleged assaults happened, who had witnessed them and even how many people were present at the time with one victim saying four people had been in the room, and the other victim saying five were present.

Judge McKerrell said he was under the firm impression that neither complainant was telling the whole story. However, he also said he didn't believe the defendant who he described as unreliable, but Judge McKerrell was clear to add that did not mean he agreed with the prosecution case.

Before clearing the defendant of all three charges against him, Judge McKerrell said he was concerned over the way Guernsey Police had gathered evidence in this case. He said that the married couple should not have given their police statements together. 

Judge McKerrell said statements should never be given while witnesses are in the same room and that statements should only consist of what individuals can recollect by themselves without the assistance of others and therefore witnesses should always give evidence in separate rooms. 

He said that amounted to "poor practice" in his view and that it is "a lesson to be learnt for the future" for Guernsey Police. He then told Mr Batiste he was found not guilty of each of the three charges.

Express approached Guernsey Police on the subject and Superintendent Phil Breban acknowledged that best practice was not followed on this occasion.

"Best practice states that statements should be obtained from key witnesses at the earliest opportunity to ensure the evidential integrity and content of the statement," he said.

"However, consideration is always given to the individual circumstances,  the vulnerability of witnesses, their emotional state and the particular incident itself.  Generally, a statement from one witness should not be taken in the presence of another. That has not been followed in this case and, while important to acknowledge that the circumstances of some cases can make it difficult, we will of course review actions taken to identify learning opportunities, which will then be shared amongst all staff."

Earlier, during his summing up, Judge McKerrell had also raised concerns about the charges which Mr Batiste faced according to the court documents.

He said "not for the first time, the charges were wrongly stated on the court sheets" and he also raised concerns because Mr Batiste had not entered any pleas before his trial had started. 

Pictured top: Judge Graeme McKerrell and Guernsey Police Station