Braysich v The Queen

Braysich v The Queen concerned an appeal to the High Court of Australia following a conviction for murder. The appellant, Braysich, had been found guilty of murder by a jury in the Supreme Court of South Australia and subsequently appealed to the Court of Criminal Appeal of South Australia, which dismissed his appeal. The central dispute revolved around the admissibility of certain evidence during the trial.

The High Court was required to determine whether the trial judge erred in admitting evidence of the appellant's prior convictions and prior bad character, which had been admitted under s 102 of the *Evidence Act 1929* (SA) as evidence of a tendency to commit the offence charged. The Court also considered whether the admission of this evidence, if it was wrongly admitted, had caused a substantial miscarriage of justice, thereby requiring the quashing of the conviction.

The High Court held that the evidence of prior convictions and bad character was wrongly admitted under s 102 of the *Evidence Act 1929* (SA). The Court reasoned that the tendency evidence did not establish a sufficient degree of relevance to the offence charged to warrant its admission. Furthermore, the Court found that the admission of this prejudicial evidence had resulted in a substantial miscarriage of justice, as it was likely to have unfairly influenced the jury's verdict. Consequently, the High Court allowed the appeal, quashed the conviction, and remitted the matter to the Supreme Court of South Australia for a retrial.