Chifuntwe v The Queen

Chifuntwe appealed to the Court of Criminal Appeal of New South Wales against a guilty conviction for robbery.

The Court was required to determine whether the trial judge's decision was unreasonable or unsupportable by the evidence. This involved considering whether the prosecution had excluded all reasonable hypotheses consistent with the appellant's innocence, and whether the rule in *Browne v Dunn* had been properly applied.

The Court found that the evidence presented at trial did not exclude all reasonable hypotheses consistent with innocence. Specifically, the Court noted that the identification evidence was weak and that the prosecution had failed to adequately address alternative explanations for the appellant's presence in the vicinity of the crime. The Court concluded that the verdict of guilty was unreasonable and could not be supported by the evidence.

Consequently, the appeal was allowed, the verdict of guilty on the charge of robbery was set aside, and a verdict of not guilty was entered.