Hearsay Evidence and the Demise of Absolute Rules

摘要

The applicant, Seton, was tried and convicted of murder in 2008 for a shooting that occurred in 2006. The gunman was not identified at the scene but witnesses reported that a person of the applicant's general description drove off in a silver Vauxhall Vectra motor vehicle. Hours later, a similar vehicle was set alight a short distance from the scene of the shooting. The applicant had purchased the vehicle on the day of the shooting. The applicant and the victim knew each other and were involved in significant drug dealing. Circumstantial evidence linked the applicant to the scene of the shooting and the scene of the vehicle's destruction.