Criminal case thrown out

The Court of Appeal has thrown out a criminal case, in which the prosecution relied on computer-generated documents to prove its case, after the evidence was found to be inadequate.



Based on the court’s ruling, Suzette McNamee, a cashier of Chudleigh, Manchester, had her convictions for larceny as a servant quashed and verdicts of acquittal entered.



McNamee was given a suspended sentence in March 2001, after she was convicted in the Mandeville Resident Magistrate’s Court on 10 counts of larceny, as a servant involving $80,000.



It was alleged that McNamee used fictitious credit notes to obtain the money from her employer, Shields Enterprises Limited.



Attorney-at-law Keith Bishop, who represented McNamee on appeal, argued that the resident magistrate failed to recognise and adhere to the Evidence Act.



Bishop submitted that the Act stated that computer-generated statements could only be admitted in evidence if certain conditions were met.



He also submitted that the credit notes exhibited by the prosecution failed to link McNamee with any wrongdoing.