Bowen (a pseudonym) v The King

The appeal concerned a conviction for maintaining a sexual relationship with a child and persistent sexual abuse of a child. The appellant, the father of the complainant (CB), appealed his conviction to the Full Court of the Supreme Court of South Australia. The offending conduct occurred between August 2018 and February 2019, when CB was between 12 and 13 years old, and the appellant was between 37 and 38. The prosecution case relied primarily on CB's evidence, which detailed instances of the appellant touching her breasts, thigh, and genital area.

The legal issues before the Full Court included whether the trial judge erred in accepting CB's evidence despite admitted exaggerations, and whether the trial judge improperly introduced unsupported hypotheses to resolve difficulties in the prosecution's case. The appellant also contended that the trial judge incorrectly used the term "corroborated" in relation to CB's evidence, arguing that the evidence cited as corroborative was either legally insufficient or too neutral to support CB's account.

The Full Court found that the trial judge had adequately addressed the issue of exaggeration, correctly distinguishing between unreliable and reliable aspects of CB's testimony. The court held that the trial judge's use of "hypotheses" was merely a disclosure of her reasoning process in assessing the plausibility of defence arguments, rather than a basis for making positive findings of fact. Regarding the use of the term "corroborated," the court noted that the trial judge adopted the prosecutor's language and that, in context, the references to consistency or corroboration were sound. The court concluded that the trial judge was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt of the credibility and reliability of CB's evidence, despite inconsistencies, and that the grounds of appeal did not demonstrate a miscarriage of justice.

Permission to appeal was granted, but the appeal itself was dismissed.