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Offender Databases Levi Falealili

Levi Falealili

Alias

.

Offences

Indecent assault of a female in his taxi in Wellington in April 1995

Victims

.

Offender Affiliations

.

Gang affiliations

none known

Age

Born 1935

Current Location

unknown

Parole/Release Dates

Not presently available

Background
From the Evening Post 14th August 1996
Jury trial judges have been told they should direct juries about the use of evidence of an accused's good character. The direction for the judges came in a decision that split the Court of Appeal. The point arose in the case of Wellington taxi driver Levi Falealili, 61, who was charged with indecently assaulting a female passenger on April 14, 1995. Falealili appealed his conviction on the ground the judge didn't tell the jury what use they could make of evidence about his good character. The court of five judges was unanimous the appeal should be dismissed but Justice Thomas gave different reasons in a judgment of his own.

Delivering the decision of the major ity of the court, Justice Henry said general practice should now be for a judge to direct a jury about the use of evidence of good character. Evidence might be used to show the accused's denials of wrongdoing should be believed and that they were unlikely to have committed the offence charged. The court decided having no previous convictions was not in itself evidence of a person's good character. "A person of bad repute may well have no convictions," Justice Henry said. Absence of convictions was a neutral factor, he said.

Directions would have to be given where evidence was called about a person's character, which could be relevant in deciding if they were guilty. The weight to be given the evidence was still a matter for the jury. Falealili called character evidence and the judge did not specifically direct on it in his summing up, although it was summarised. The lack of an express direction did not lead to a miscarriage of justice so the appeal was dismissed, Justice Henry said. In his dissenting judgment, Justice Thomas said he didn't think there should be any change to the practice of letting the trial judge decide whether to give an express direction. Nor did he think the judge in Falealili's case was wrong to omit the direction.

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Corrections and Additional Information
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