Non-expert opinion evidence

Question 1

Non-expert
opinion
evidence

Answer 1

24 General admissibility of opinions
A witness may state an opinion in evidence in a proceeding if that opinion is necessary to enable the witness to communicate, or the fact-finder to understand, what the witness saw, heard, or otherwise perceived.

Opinion evidence from a witness may include topics such as identity, speed, emotional state, weather, age and so on, but the list of areas in which nonexpert opinion is admissible is not limited.

In order to be admissible under s24, the statement of opinion must fulfil two basic criteria:

• opinion must be the only way in which to effectively communicate the information to the finder of fact,
• the witness must be stating an opinion (be it conclusion, inference etc) from something personally perceived.

In general, non-expert opinion evidence will be accepted where the
perceptions and statements of fact of the witness are conclusions in
themselves, or where there is a mixture of inference and fact that cannot be separated.

For example, where a witness offers evidence that she identified the offender in an identification parade, she is giving evidence of the fact that she chose the person from a parade of other people, but the belief that the person and the offender are one and the same is a mixture of fact and inference.

The two are almost impossible to separate. Similarly, where a witness gives evidence about a car accident, he or she may be asked whether the car was speeding. The witness may use the sound of the car or other perceptions to give an opinion on whether the car was travelling at a fast speed: the perception and the opinion are closely bound together.