Anna Rowan (a pseudonym) v The King

In the matter of Anna Rowan, an appellant under a pseudonym, against The King, the Supreme Court of Victoria presided over an appeal against the appellant's conviction on one charge of an indecent act with a child under 16 and 11 charges of incest. The appellant, who was the mother of the two complainants, had argued that she acted under duress. The court was required to determine whether the defence of duress was correctly applied by the trial judge in assessing the appellant's actions.

The central legal issues before the court were the specific requirements of the common law defence of duress, including the necessity of a specific and overt threat, the nature of the threatened harm, and whether the threat needed to be both present and continuing or if an ever-present threat was sufficient. The court also examined the relevance of expert evidence regarding the battered woman syndrome and the attributes of a person of ordinary firmness. Additionally, the court considered the statutory defence of duress under the Crimes Act 1958 and the onus of proof for the defence of duress.

The court found that the trial judge erred in ruling that the evidence was insufficient for the defence of duress to be left to the jury. The court held that the judge had been influenced by the inconsistency between the defence's claim that the offending conduct did not take place and the reliance on duress to avoid criminal liability for that conduct. The court determined that this error led to a substantial miscarriage of justice. Consequently, the court allowed the appeal, set aside the convictions, and ordered a new trial. The ruling was grounded in the application of the Criminal Procedure Act 2009, section 276(1)(b).