Progress in the field of science requires more and more the use of
experts as witnesses during legal proceedings. It is due to the complex
nature of some scientific principles that legal practitioners make use of
expert witnesses to answer their questions and to supply them with
reasons for their answers as well.
Due to their expertise and/or experience, expert witnesses are in a
position to explain to the courts complex concepts and to help the courts
in their understanding and interpretation of scientific principles.
Courts, however, have a discretion to reject evidence by expert
witnesses should the court be of the opinion that such evidence is
irrelevant and unreliable or if the witness failed to substantiate, to the
satisfaction of the court, the reason for his or her opinion.
The report of the expert witness contains an exposition of the reasons
on which he or she basis his or her opinion. The report has the further
use that it affords the court a chance to subject it to cross-examination.
Aspects on which expert witnesses may testify is legion. Examples
discussed above include among other things evidence regarding
deoxyribonucleic acid testing on blood samples taken from a victim of
crime, evidence extracted by means of a polygraph test, evidence regarding fingerprints, earprints, brain fingerprinting and thermal
imaging.
Evidence by psychologists and psychiatrists is an important aid should a
court, for example, have to decide on the custody and access of minors
after divorce.
Interception and/or tapping of cellular and/or telephone conversations is
a relatively simple and fast way to obtain evidence during the
investigation of an alleged offence. In this regard, the Bill of Rights calls
for a weighing of interests of the right to privacy (of the accused) and the
public interest (the maintaining of law and order).
Legislation regulates most matters concerning expert evidence. Case
law should provide guidelines to the courts in their evaluation of expert
evidence. If an expert witness presents evidence regarding an unknown
scientific technique to the court, the courts should look to international
case law for guidance. American case law laid down principles that
should be met before evidence regarding an unknown scientific
technique is presented in court and may serve as guidelines to South
African courts.
Factors such as the reliability and acceptance of a technique in scientific
circles both play a role in the adjudication of the question concerning the
admission and/or rejection of evidence as far as that technique is
concerned.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ufs/oai:etd.uovs.ac.za:etd-08152008-133702 |
| Date | 15 August 2008 |
| Creators | Knoetze, Izette |
| Contributors | Prof CP van der Merwe Fick, Prof H Oosthuizen |
| Publisher | University of the Free State |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en-uk |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.uovs.ac.za//theses/available/etd-08152008-133702/restricted/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University Free State or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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