Baggott v The Queen

The High Court of Australia heard an appeal by the applicant, Mr. Baggott, against the judgment of the Supreme Court of Queensland. The dispute concerned the applicant's conviction for the offence of dangerous driving occasioning death.

The central legal issue before the High Court was whether the trial judge had erred in law by failing to direct the jury on the alternative verdict of dangerous driving not occasioning death, as provided for by s 328A(2) of the *Criminal Code* (Qld). The applicant argued that the evidence presented at trial was capable of supporting such a verdict, and that the jury should have been given the opportunity to consider it.

The High Court considered the principles governing the availability of alternative verdicts. It held that a judge is obliged to direct the jury on an alternative offence if there is evidence upon which the jury could reasonably find the accused not guilty of the principal offence but guilty of the alternative offence. In this instance, the Court found that the evidence did not permit a reasonable jury to conclude that the driving was dangerous but not the cause of death. The evidence clearly established a causal link between the dangerous driving and the death. Therefore, the trial judge was not in error in failing to leave the alternative verdict to the jury.

The appeal was dismissed.