2.1 Relevance

As with all evidence, expert evidence needs to be relevant to be admissible. Relevance entails a link from the evidence to one of the facts in issue such that the expert evidence, if admitted, would bolster or undermine that fact. A fact in issue is one that is disputed between the sides. For example a fact in issue might be whether or not a partial fingerprint found at the scene matches the accused. Therefore, if there is no link between the evidence and a fact in issue, or if there is a link but the expert evidence does not illuminate that fact in issue, then it will not be relevant.

For example, fingerprint evidence placing a suspect at a crime scene will not be relevant if the suspect accepts that they were there. Similarly, if the suspect denies that they were at the crime scene, evidence that the suspect has particularly distinctive fingerprints would not be relevant if the prints taken from the crime scene are too poor in quality for identification purposes.