Criminal Justice Act (Northern Ireland) 1953

PART II N.I. PROCEDURE, EVIDENCE AND POWERS IN CRIMINAL MATTERS

S. 11 rep. by 1964 c. 21 (NI)

12 Evidence by certificate. N.I.

(1) In any criminal proceedings, a certificate purporting to be signed by a member of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, not below the rank of sergeant, or by a person appearing to the court to be suitably qualified, and certifying that a plan or drawing exhibited thereto is a plan or drawing made by him of the place or object specified in the certificate, and that the plan or drawing is correctly drawn to a scale so specified, shall be evidence of the relative position of the things shown on the plan or drawing.

Subs. (2) rep. by 1973 NI 17; subs. (3) rep. by 1969 c. 16 (NI)

(4) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to make a certificate …F1 admissible as evidence in proceedings for an offence except where and to the extent to which oral evidence to the like effect would have been admissible in those proceedings.

(5) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to make a certificate …F1 admissible as evidence in proceedings for any offence—

(a) unless a copy thereof has, not less than seven days before the hearing or trial, been served on the person charged with the offence or on his solicitor, if any; or

(b) if that person or his solicitor, not later than three days before the hearing or trial or within such further time as the court may in special circumstances allow, serves notice on the prosecutor or his solicitor requiring the attendance at the trial of the person who signed the certificate …F1

F1 1969 c. 16 (NI)

S. 13 rep. by 1964 c. 21 (NI)

14 Proof of previous convictions by finger-prints. N.I.

(1) A previous conviction may be proved against any person in any criminal proceedings by the production of such evidence of the conviction as is mentioned in this section, and by showing that his finger-prints and those of the person convicted are the finger-prints of the same person.

(2) A certificate purporting to be signed by or on behalf of the Inspector-GeneralF2 of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, containing particulars relating to a conviction extracted from the criminal records kept by or available to the Royal Ulster Constabulary, and certifying that the copies of the finger-prints referred to in the certificate are copies of the finger-prints appearing from the said records to have been taken [F3 under or by virtue of any enactment in that behalf in force in any part of the United Kingdom (including an enactment of the Parliament of Northern Ireland)], from the person convicted on the occasion of the conviction, shall be evidence of the conviction and evidence that the copies of the finger-prints referred to in the certificate are copies of the finger-prints of the person convicted.

(3) A certificate purporting to be signed by or on behalf of the governor of a prison, Borstal institution [F4 , young offenders centre] or other institution for the treatment of offenders in which any person has been detained in connection with any criminal proceedings, certifying that the finger-prints referred to in the certificate were taken from him while he was so detained, shall be evidence in those proceedings that the finger-prints referred to in the certificate are the finger-prints of that person.

(4) A certificate, purporting to be signed by or on behalf of the Inspector-GeneralF2 of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, and certifying that the finger-prints, copies of which are certified as aforesaid by or on behalf of the said Inspector-GeneralF2 to be copies of the finger-prints of a person previously convicted, and the finger-prints certified by or on behalf of the governor as aforesaid, or otherwise shown, to be the finger-prints of the person against whom the previous conviction is sought to be proved are the finger-prints of the same person, shall be evidence of the matter so certified.

(5) The method of proving a previous conviction authorised by this section shall be in addition to any other method of proving the conviction.

F5 [(6) In this section, any reference to finger-prints shall be construed as including a reference to palm-prints.]

F2 Now Chief Constable, SRO (NI) 1970/111

F3 1961 c. 39

F4 1968 c. 29 (NI)

F5 1968 c. 28 (NI)