Burns-Dederer v R

The applicant was convicted of the offence of sexual touching of a child and acquitted of the offence of sexual intercourse with a child, arising from the same complainant. The applicant appealed against conviction, submitting that the trial judge erred in admitting tendency evidence and that the verdict was unreasonable. The tendency evidence included the testimony of a non-complainant witness who gave evidence of the applicant’s past sexual interest in children. The High Court held that the trial judge had correctly admitted the evidence. The probative value of the evidence substantially outweighed any prejudicial effect on the applicant. There was no miscarriage of justice arising from the admission of the tendency evidence. The High Court also dismissed the applicant’s contention that the verdict was unreasonable. The jury was entitled to prefer the evidence of the complainant over that of the applicant and his wife. The discrepancies between the evidence of the witnesses did not make the verdict unsafe or unsatisfactory.
The appeal was dismissed.