Green v The Queen

The High Court of Australia considered an appeal by Green against his conviction for conspiracy to murder. The central issue on appeal concerned the directions given to the jury regarding the use of alleged lies told by the appellant as corroboration of the evidence of a key prosecution witness.

The High Court was required to determine whether the trial judge had erred in failing to direct the jury that lies told by the accused could not be used as corroboration of a witness's testimony if the evidence establishing those lies was itself derived from that same witness. The Court also considered whether there was other evidence upon which the jury could have concluded that the appellant had indeed told lies, and whether, in light of any misdirection, there had been a substantial miscarriage of justice, allowing for the application of the proviso to section 23(1) of the Criminal Appeal Act 1912 (NSW).

The Court reasoned that while a general direction that lies told by an accused could be corroborative of a witness's evidence was permissible, a specific direction was required in circumstances where the evidence of the lie was inextricably linked to the testimony of the witness sought to be corroborated. However, the Court found that there was sufficient independent evidence before the jury from which they could have concluded that the appellant had lied, irrespective of the evidence of the witness in question. Consequently, the Court held that no substantial miscarriage of justice had occurred.

The appeal was dismissed.