Question 1 of 10

Geraldine is jointly charged, together with her boyfriend Cliff, with an offence of cruelty to a child (her six year old daughter). Geraldine was interviewed by the police in relation to this allegation. During the interview the interviewing officer told Geraldine that her children were less likely to be taken away from her if she admitted her involvement in the alleged offence than if she continued to deny it. As a result of this, Geraldine accepted that she had hit her six year old daughter a couple of times but said that it was Cliff who had beaten the child, breaking the child’s arm. The Crown now wishes to rely on this confession evidence at trial. Before the Crown opens the case to the jury, Defence Counsel for Geraldine applies to have this confession evidence excluded. Which ONE of the following statements about the admissibility of Geraldine’s confession is CORRECT?

A. A B. The Judge may only exclude the confession if she / he rules that the police acted in bad faith during the interview. C. B D. The Judge should hold a ‘voir dire’ to establish whether in the Judge’s view the confession is true. E. C F. If the Judge does not exclude the confession and rules that it is admissible, the Crown will usually be entitled to rely on the confession against Geraldine only and not against Cliff. G. D H. If the Judge rules, in response to the Defence application, that there were prima facie breaches of various provisions of the Police and Criminal Evidence 1984 Codes of Practice, such breaches will automatically render the confession unreliable and therefore inadmissible.