- Moderator
- #1,276
Meanwhile the Court of Sport Arbitration with far less evidence and extremely low burden of proof......
Technically true.
Bomber was charged with a criminal offence. So the State of Victoria needs to prove 'Beyond reasonable doubt' that he was guilty of the offence, by proving each element of the offence to that standard. One element of the offence (trafficking) is already presumed due to the amount of drugs found, however he can rebut that specific presumption (using the civil standard of 'on the balance of probabilities' or 'what is more likely than not to have happened').
Even if he rebutts the trafficking element, he's still left with the drugs (possession, and of a large quantity).
The CAS on the other hand is a civil court, so its standard of proof is 'the balance of probabilities' and not 'beyond reasonable doubt'. CAS only has to find something is more likely than not to have occured, as opposed to 'beyond reasonable doubt' that it occured.
The extra hurdle for CAS is due to the serious consequences of the anti-doping rules, CAS is bound by the authority of 'Wednesbury v Wednesbury'.
'Wednesbury' is a common law case that basically says that 'When a civil matter has serious consequences, or relates to criminal activity, the Court cannot be drawn to a conclusion of fact 'on the balance of probabilites' based on mere inference, heresay and supposition; it must be 'comfortably satisfied' of each of the particular allegations in reaching its decision'.
So when hearing a serious civil matter (as CAS did) it must be 'comfortably satisfied' of the offence occuring (on the balance of probabilities). This is what they were on about with the whole 'strands of the cable' thing.
For the record (seeing as you raise it), your players would never have been convicted to the criminal standard (should CAS apply that standard). There was ample reasonable doubt in my mind at least. It was too murky to make it stick.
However, CAS dont apply that standard. The apply the civil standard. And on the balance of probabilites, I certainly was comfortably satisfied at the time that it happened, and I side with CAS on that one.