Credibility vs. Reliability
Credibility relates to a witness's sincerity, whether she is speaking the truth as she believes it to be. Reliability relates to the actual accuracy of her testimony. In determining this, a court will consider a witness’s ability to accurately observe, recall and recount the events in issue. A credible witness may give unreliable evidence . R. v. Morrissey , 1995 CanLII 3498 (ON CA), [1995] O.J. No. 639 (Ont. C.A.) per Doherty J.A. at para 33; R. v. H.C ., 2009 ONCA 56 (CanLII), [2009] O.J. No. 214 (Ont. C.A.) per Watt J.A. at para. 41; Paciocco and Stuesser, The Law of Evidence , 6th ed. (Toronto: Irwin Law, 2011), at pp. 32 - 33. Accordingly, there is a distinction between a finding of credibility and proof beyond a reasonable doubt. R. v. J.J.R.D ., 2006 CanLII 40088 (ON CA) , [2006] O.J. No. 4749 (Ont. C.A.) per Doherty J.A. at para 47; R. v. J.W., [2014] O.J. No. 1979 (Ont. C.A.) per Benotto J.A. at para. 26. Finlayson...