LEGAL KOKONSA

Otherwise known as Hearsay Evidence. By my traditional Ghanaian definition.

Hearsay is evidence of a statement made other than by a witness who is testifying at a hearing offered in proof of the matter at stake.

As a general rule, hearsay evidence is inadmissible and no judicial decision can be based on hearsay evidence.

In other words, hearsay is anything written outside the court-room, if it is being used to prove the truth of what is contained in those words or writing. For example, Kofi says outside the court room, ‘Joe has raped Ama’. Whether or not Kofi subsequently gives evidence in court, his statement out of court is hearsay if it is being introduced to prove the rape.

On the other hand, it is not hearsay if it is used to show that Kofi’s voice is loud. So that the real key to understanding whether an out-of-court statement is hearsay or not is to ask for what purpose the statement is sought to be used.

In Subramanian vrs Public Prosecutor [1956] 1 WLR 956, it was held that evidence of a statement made to a witness by a person who is not himself called as a witness may or may not be hearsay. It is hearsay and inadmissible when the object of the evidence is to establish the truth of what is contained in the statement. It is not hearsay and is inadmissible when it is proposed to establish by the evidence, not the truth of the statement, but the fact that it was made.

In the Evidence Act of Ghana, NRCD 323, there are 15 exceptions to the hearsay rule. These are:

• Firsthand hearsay
• Admissions
• Confessions
• Formal testimony
• Recorded past recollections
• Statement of state of mind
• Res gestate
• Business and official records
• Judgements
• Deeds
• Documents
• Reputation concerning character
• Reference work
• Traditional evidence in cases relating to pedigree, inheritance, boundaries of land and family history.
• Family history.