Bathurst CJ at [1]; Price J at [381]; McCallum J at [471]
Decision:
1. The appeal be allowed.
2. The verdict of the jury be set aside and
the conviction quashed.
3. There be a new trial.
Catchwords:
CRIMINAL - conviction - whether verdict unreasonable - whether jury verdicts inconsistent - whether open to jury to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt as to the appellant's guilt on the evidence - advantage of hearing and seeing evidence at trial
CRIMINAL - directions to jury - whether failure to leave provocation - whether evidence raised defence - whether subsumed by self-defence - substantial miscarriage of justice
CRIMINAL - procedural fairness - principle of open court - exceptions - jury deliberations - what constitutes jury deliberations - whether judge should have disclosed content of communication between judge and jury - s 68B Jury Act
CRIMINAL - jury directions - manner of jury deliberation on alternative charges
JUDGMENT AND ORDERS - Court of Criminal Appeal - no majority as to orders -need for outcome - method adopted - least unsatisfactory outcome
[14] The appellant contends that the primary judge erred in finding that the respondent had discharged the onus of establishing the matters required under the relevant provision.
[15] It was submitted that his Honour failed to give adequate weight to the evidence of the second witness, and that the findings of fact were not reasonably open on the material before the Court.
[16] The respondent, for its part, submits that no error is disclosed, and that the conclusions reached were well within the range of outcomes available to the primary judge.
Consideration
[17] It is convenient to deal first with the question of construction, as the resolution of that issue informs the remaining grounds advanced by the appellant.
[18] For the reasons that follow, we are of the view that the appeal should be allowed in part and the matter remitted for further determination.
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AGLC
Hawi v R [2014] NSWCCA 83
Case
[2014] NSWCCA 83
Decision Date
CaseChat Overview and Summary
In Hawi v R, the appellant, Mr Hawi, appealed his conviction on the basis that the verdict was unreasonable and the jury's verdicts were inconsistent. The case was heard in the Court of Criminal Appeal. The central issue in this appeal was whether the jury's verdict was unreasonable given the evidence presented, particularly concerning the appellant's involvement in a double homicide. Additionally, the court examined whether the jury had the necessary evidence to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt of the appellant's guilt. Another issue was whether the trial judge's directions to the jury regarding provocation and self-defence were appropriate and whether they led to a substantial miscarriage of justice.
The Court of Criminal Appeal considered the appellant's arguments regarding the unreasonableness of the verdict and the consistency of the jury's verdicts. The court assessed whether the evidence allowed the jury to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt of the appellant's guilt, taking into account the advantage of hearing and seeing the evidence at trial. Furthermore, the court examined whether the trial judge's directions on provocation and self-defence were adequate and whether the evidence raised these defences sufficiently. The court also delved into whether the principle of open court was breached when the judge communicated with the jury, and whether the content of these communications should have been disclosed under section 68B of the Jury Act.
The Court of Criminal Appeal found that there was no majority decision regarding the appropriate orders for this appeal. Given the lack of consensus, the court adopted a method to determine the least unsatisfactory outcome for the parties. The final orders of the court were not specified in the text provided.