Section 70: Certain scientific reports to be evidence.

(1) Any document purporting to be an original report under the hand of any public officer who is a medicalpractitioner, dental surgeon, analyst, chemical examiner or geologist, or of any assayer or mineralogist recognized by the Minister of Mines for the purposes of this section by notification published in the Gazette, upon any substance or thing submitted to him for examination or analysis and report, may, if it is directed to the court or is produced by any constable to whom it is directed or someone acting on his behalf, be used as evidence of the facts therein stated in any enquiry, trial or other proceeding under this Act. (2) Any document purporting to be an original report under the hand of a qualified medical practitioner or dentist relating to the nature or extent of the injuries of any person certified to have been examined by such practitioner or dentist, may if it is directed to the Court or is produced by any constable to whom it is addressed or by someone acting on his behalf, be admitted as evidence of the facts therein stated in any preliminary investigation or trial before a Magistrate's Court. (3) Any document purporting to be an original report under the hand of a person gazetted as an examining officer Act No. 62 of 1964. relating to the condition of any motor vehicle or trailer, may, if it is directed to the Court or produced by any constable to whom it is addressed or by someone acting on his behalf, be admitted as evidence of the facts therein stated in any preliminary investigation or trial before a Magistrate's Court. For the purposes of this subsection the expression "examining officer", "motor vehicle" and "trailer" shall have the meanings respectively assigned to them under the Road Traffic Act, 1964. (4) The Court may presume that the signature to any such document is genuine, and that the person signing it held the office which he professed to hold or was recognized as an assayer or mineralogist at the time when he signed it. (5) Upon receiving such report in evidence the Court shall, if it thinks such a course proper for the ends of justice, summon and examine such medical practitioner, dentist, analyst, chemical examiner, geologist, assayer, or mineralogist, or person gazetted as an examining officer in accordance with the provisions of subsection (3), as a witness or cause his evidence to be taken on commission as the case shall require. LUNACY OF ACCUSED AND DEFENCE OF LUNACY