3. Uncharged acts

Uncharged acts are not part of the indictment and therefore are generally irrelevant to the charged acts. However, sometimes the prosecution would still want to adduce evidence in relation to uncharged acts to provide the background in which the charged acts were committed. Ultimately, admissibility of these evidence is governed by the principles of relevance, fairness, and necessity.

The jury must be carefully directed on how such evidence can be used in the particular case to avoid the risk of it being misused. It is not sufficient to merely tell the jury that those evidence is part of the context or part of the background.