Director of Public Prosecutions for Victoria v Le

The Director of Public Prosecutions for Victoria (DPP) appealed to the High Court of Australia against a decision of the Victorian Court of Appeal which had allowed an appeal by Mr. Le against his conviction for trafficking in a commercial quantity of a controlled drug. The central dispute concerned the admissibility of evidence obtained by police during a search of Mr. Le's vehicle, which had been conducted without a warrant.

The High Court was required to determine whether the search of Mr. Le's vehicle was lawful under section 465(1) of the *Crimes Act 1958* (Vic) and, if not, whether the evidence obtained from that search should have been admitted into evidence under section 138 of the *Evidence Act 2008* (Vic). This involved considering the scope of police powers to search vehicles and the discretion of the court to admit unlawfully obtained evidence.

The High Court held that the search of Mr. Le's vehicle was unlawful as the police did not have reasonable grounds to believe that the vehicle contained evidence relating to an indictable offence. The Court reasoned that the powers of search conferred by section 465(1) of the *Crimes Act* are not to be exercised lightly and require a proper evidentiary basis. Furthermore, the Court found that the admission of the unlawfully obtained evidence under section 138 of the *Evidence Act* would have had an adverse effect on the fairness of the trial that outweighed any public interest in admitting the evidence. The Court emphasised the importance of upholding the rule of law and the integrity of the criminal justice system.

The appeal was dismissed, and Mr. Le's conviction was accordingly quashed.