Section 65 of Evidence Act CAP 80: Primary evidence
(1) Primary evidence means the document itself produced for the inspection of the court.
(2) Where a document is executed in several parts, each part is primary evidence of the document.
(3) Where a document is executed in counterpart each counterpart being executed by one or some of the parties only, each counterpart is primary evidence as against the parties executing it.
(4) Where a number of documents are all made by one uniform process, as in the case of printing, lithography or photography, each is primary evidence of the contents of the rest; but where they are all copies of a common original they are not primary evidence of the contents of the original.
(5) Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force—
(a) a micro-film of a document or the reproduction of the image or images embodied in such micro-film; or
(b) a facsimile copy of a document or an image of a document derived or captured from the original document; or
(c) a statement contained in a document and included in printed
material produced by a computer (hereinafter referred to as a
“computer print-out”)
shall, if the conditions stipulated in subsection (6) of this section are satisfied, be deemed to also be a document for the purposes of this Act and shall be admissible in any proceedings without further proof of production of the original, as evidence of any contents of the original or of any fact stated therein of which direct evidence would be admissible.
(6) The conditions referred to in subsection (5) in respect of a computer printout shall be the following, namely—
(a) the computer print-out containing the statement must have been produced by the computer during the period in which the computer was regularly used to store or process information for the purposes of any activities regularly carried on over that period by a person having lawful control over the use of the computer;
(b) the computer was, during the period to which the proceedings relate, used in the ordinary course of business regularly and was supplied with information of the kind contained in the document or of the kind from which the information so contained is derived;
(c) the computer was operating properly or, if not, that any respect in
which it was not operating properly was not such as to affect the production of the document or the accuracy of its content;
(d) the information contained in the statement reproduces or is derived from information supplied to the computer in the ordinary course of business.
(7) Where, over any period, the function of storing or processing information for the purposes of any activities regularly carried on over that period mentioned in paragraph (a) of subsection (6) was regularly performed by computers, whether—
(a) by a combination of computers operating over that period; or
(b) by different computers operating in succession over that period; or
(c) by different combinations of computers operating in succession over that period; or
(d) in any other manner involving the successive operation over that
period, in whatever order, of one or more computers and one or more combination of computers,
all computers used for that purpose during that period shall be treated for the purposes of this section as constituting a single computer; and references in this section to a computer shall be construed accordingly.
(8) In any proceedings under this Act where it is desired to give a computer print-out or statement in evidence by virtue of this section, a certificate doing any of the following things, that is to say—
(a) identifying a document containing a print-out or statement and describing the manner in which it was produced;
(b) giving such particulars of any device involved in the production of
that document as may be appropriate for the purpose of showing that the document was produced by a computer;
(c) dealing with any of the matters to which conditions mentioned in the subsection (6) relate,
which is certified by a person holding a responsible position in relation to the operation of the relevant device or the management of the activities to which the document relates in the ordinary course of business shall be admissible in evidence.
(9) For the purposes of this section—
(a) information shall be deemed to be supplied to a computer if it is supplied in any appropriate form and whether it is so supplied directly or (with or without human intervention) by means of any appropriate equipment;
(b) information shall be deemed to be supplied in the ordinary course of business if the information was obtained, received or supplied with a view to it being processed, stored or retrieved in the ordinary course of business; and
(c) a document shall be deemed to have been produced by a computer whether it was produced by it directly or (with or without human intervention) by means of any other appropriate equipment connected to such computer.
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