Are service personnel required to give evidence during the investigation prior to Summary Hearing? This whole ”it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned” thing, how badly can it harm the defence? Hypothetical situation:
Pte Smith and Pte Jones have a blazing row at work. Smith always parks in the far left slot on the first row. Smith drives into work, and Jones’ car is in “his” slot. A blazing row ensues in the troop office, and there are lots of witnesses. SSgt Stacker says “Right. Calm the fcuk down, get over it“, and everything is ticketyboo. For now. Smith is unusually tall, 6’4”.
Later that night, about 8pm, Jones’ car is vandalized with a can of orange paint being thrown over it. This happens to be caught on CCTV in the barracks, and it’s an unusually tall person throwing the paint.
RMP investigate, the altercation comes to light, and Smith is squarely in the frame. It so happens he’s on leave that day, and so they go to his MQ to interview him. As they walk up to his front door, they notice an open can of orange paint in his garden. They seize it as evidence, and wouldn’t you know it, it’s the very same shade of orange. Smith is inevitably charged.
Smith feels wronged by the system and is determined not to play ball with this nonsense. He says ”I have nothing to say about that” during interview, interspersed with “no comment”.
Smith goes on OC’s, pleads not guilty and requests CO’s. in front of the big man now.
What have you got to say, Smith? Well sir, the whole thing’s a fit-up. That day happened to be my niece’s 12th birthday, and we had a family dinner at Pizza Express in Woking. My brother and I split the bill, and here is my receipt. We were a bit late getting out of there, we then went to the cinema to watch “The Hill”, which started at 7pm, and you can see from the receipt here that I left the restaurant at 6.40pm. Here’s a receipt from the cinema, and another one from the concession stand showing where I bought popcorn in the intermission at 8.10pm. Not sure if I’ve mentioned before Sir, but my brother is Major Bruce Ponsonby-Smith, OC A Coy, 1 LOAMSHIRES. He also brought his 2IC and another company commander, as they are godparents to my niece. In addition, I’m sure I’ll be on the CCTV at both the restaurant and the cinema.
”Case dismissed. March out, Sarn’t Major. Adjutant - stay here for a moment, would you”.
Obviously a load of contrived nonsense, but Smith has a cast-iron alibi, but was determined not to play ball with the attempt to fit him up by giving away anything before trial that could possibly be twisted, have holes picked in, or used against him. How can it harm his defence, if he chooses to keep his powder dry and shoot down “the prosecution”’s case at a moment of his choosing? He has a cast-iron alibi, it clearly wasn’t him. Davis in R Tp was the actual culprit, he hated both Smith and Jones, so saw his opportunity to stitch up Smith while doing Jones’ car over, but that never came to light.
Is Smith required to give evidence of substance and disclose relevant facts during the investigation?