R. V Marwa (1971) HCD no. 473

Facts
The victim was found lying on the floor of a house with a number of wounds, including a swollen wound on the back of his head. He made a statement naming the accused as his attacker. Later, at a dispensary, he repeated the statement. He subsequently died. The evidence showed that his death was due to compression of the brain caused by a blood clot that had formed on the inside of the skull beneath the bruise on the outside. The wound have been caused by a heavy object and inflicted with great force. 
 Held: (1) “[A] dying declaration is evidence which is admissible against an accused person, but such evidence falls into that class of evidence which needs to be corroborated before such evidence can be acted on.” But were circumstances exist showing that the deceased could not have been mistaken in his identification of the accused, a conviction can result even though such was the only evidence against an accused person. However, it is only on rare occasion that such evidence would be acted on without corroboration that such evidence would be acted on without corroboration

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