Remedial Law, Legal and Judicial Ethics, with Practical Exercises › Evidence › Weight and Sufficiency (Rule 133)

2. Direct and Circumstantial Evidence

DIRECT AND CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE

DIRECT EVIDENCE	CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE
That which proves the fact in dispute without the aid of any inference or presumption.	Evidence that indirectly proves a fact in issue through an inference which the fact finder draws from the evidence established.
Example: Witness saw the accused inflict a blow which caused the victim’s death	Example: Witness testified that he saw the accused with blood on his shirt and hands and running from the scene of the crime where the victim was lying dead. The next day, the accused was nowhere to be found in his place of residence. Taken altogether, inference of guilt can be drawn that the accused killed the victim.