Statutory presumption of a legally enforceable debt following...

Statutory presumption of a legally enforceable debt following admission of a cheque signature is rebuttable on a preponderance of probabilities. In an alleged cash-loan transaction, failure to establish the complainant's financial capacity or a financial trail, together with non-examination of the eyewitness to the loan and cheque delivery, supported a probable defence that no loan existed. The lower courts' reliance on the presumption and the accused's statement, without drawing an adverse inference for withholding the material witness, misallocated the burden of proof. The conviction was set aside and the accused acquitted of cheque dishonour.