... Video recordings not admissible in court

IN THE meantime, attorney-at-law Bert Samuels said that it is going to be difficult for the prosecution to use a video recording to convince the courts that the mother who was seen in a video beating her child should go to prison.

In 30-second video footage, which has gone viral on social media, the partially nude 44-year-old Doreen Dyer is seen using a cutlass to beat her frantic 12-year-old daughter while using expletives to relay her anger and frustration.

“It’s important for the public to know that a video tape or a tape recording or video recording is not the easiest thing to be admitted in a court of law to be used against anyone,” said Samuels.

“We have had in the past a tape of a police officer firing at a civilian while he was rolling under a vehicle, and he died, and everyone thought that was a clear-cut case. It turned out that the prosecution in that murder case could not use the tape because the rules of evidence are very strict when it comes to recordings. Unless the mother has confessed to this incident, it’s going to be very difficult for the prosecution to use that tape against her.”

The attorney said that he strongly recommends that psycho-social interventions be employed to assist the mother.

“Secondly, there must be a complainant, and if the daughter is not willing to testify against her mother, that’s another difficulty for the courts. My own opinion is that mediation, social and psychological intervention may be the better course than criminal law itself. In recent times, the courts have resorted to mediation than to have the court of law take its usual course. That’s my view on the matter.”