R. v. Uhrig, 2012
ONCA 470 is a good source for the proposition it is not individual pieces of
evidence but their cumulative effect that maters:
[13] When arguments are advanced, as here,
that individual items of circumstantial evidence are explicable on bases other
than guilt, it is essential to keep in mind that it is, after all, the
cumulative effect of all the evidence that must satisfy the standard of proof
required of the Crown. Individual items
of evidence are links in the chain of ultimate proof: R. v. Morin, [1988] 2 S.C.R. 345, at p. 361. Individual items of
evidence are not to be examined separately and in isolation, then cast aside if
the ultimate inference sought from their accumulation does not follow from each
individual item alone. It may be and very often is the case that items of
evidence adduced by the Crown, examined separately, have not a very strong
probative value. But all the evidence has to be considered, each item in
relation to the others and to the evidence as a whole, and it is all of them
taken together that may constitute a proper basis for a conviction: Cote v. The King (1941), 77 C.C.C. 75
(S.C.C.), at p. 76.
No comments:
Post a Comment