Goddard v The Queen

In *Goddard v The Queen*, the applicant, Goddard, sought special leave to appeal to the High Court of Australia against his conviction for murder. The conviction had been affirmed by the Court of Criminal Appeal of New South Wales.

The central legal issue before the High Court was whether the trial judge had erred in law by failing to direct the jury on the defence of provocation. Specifically, the question was whether there was sufficient evidence of provocation to warrant such a direction, and if not, whether the absence of such a direction constituted a miscarriage of justice.

Hayne J, in chambers, considered the evidence presented at trial. His Honour noted that for a defence of provocation to be left to the jury, there must be some evidence that the act of the deceased was capable of constituting a provocation, and that the accused's reaction was a response to that provocation. In this instance, Hayne J found that the evidence did not support a finding that the deceased's conduct, as described, was capable of constituting a provocation in law. Therefore, the trial judge was not obliged to direct the jury on provocation, and no miscarriage of justice had occurred.

Special leave to appeal was refused.