How have the courts interpreted statements where a young person said that he only hit her once?

[36] The facts in Regina v. S.(C.L.), supra, indicate that at the time the statement was made by the young person, the young person was in a police station and was being questioned as a witness to the murder. Upon receiving the statement where the young person effectively had stated that he “didn’t kill her. I only hit her once”, the young person’s status changed from that of a witness to a suspect and the police made an arrest. As here, the statement had been made in response to being asked if the young person understood after the arrest. Despite the fact that the utterance was not directly responsive to the question “Do you understand?”, it was made in the course of a series of questions and answers with the detective and was a repeat of a previous answer that the young person had provided. However, in all the circumstances the court found this was not a spontaneous utterance.