Search judgments by proposition, citation, court, judge or legal topic, then move directly into the source-grounded case analysis.
Results update automatically as you type.
Scotland decisions
Decisions matching the current search
Appeal against Conviction by Peter McGuiness against HMA (High Court of Justiciary) [2025] HCJAC 13 (21 February 2025)
The Appeal Court held that distress observed nine years after a sexual offence was too remote to corroborate the complainer’s evidence, and quashed the conviction on charge 2.
Wilson v HM Advocate [2017] ScotHC HCJAC_3 (19 January 2017)
Appeal against conviction refused in a sexual offence case. The court held that evidence of the complainer’s distress could corroborate lack of consent.
PAUL CULLINGTON v. HER MAJESTY'S ADVOCATE [1999] ScotHC 172 (25th June, 1999)
Evidence of distress may corroborate lack of consent and use of force in indecent assault cases; the sheriff's directions were consistent with the law as clarified in Smith v. Lees.
Source excerpt
ALEXANDER FORSYTH v. HER MAJESTY'S ADVOCATE [2000] ScotHC 21 (22nd February, 2000)
The court held that there is no principled distinction between alternative explanations for distress coming from the complainer or other witnesses. The jury was entitled to find that the complainer's distress, as corroborated by other witnesses, related to the rape, and there was sufficient evidence to support the conviction.
Source excerpt
DAVID ALEXANDER KERR v. HER MAJESTY'S ADVOCATE [2001] ScotHC 3 (1st February, 2001)
The court held that the trial judge's directions, when read as a whole, did not mislead the jury regarding the corroborative value of distress and that there was ample evidence, including the tape recording and the complainer's distress, to corroborate the essential elements of the charge. The appeal was therefore refused.
Source excerpt
Explore more
