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High Court Bulletin

Produced by the Legal Research Officer,
High Court of Australia Library

[2017] HCAB 9 (27 November 2017)

A record of recent High Court of Australia cases: decided, reserved for judgment, awaiting hearing in the Court’s original jurisdiction, granted special leave to appeal, refused special leave to appeal and not proceeding or vacated

1: Summary of New Entries
2: Cases Handed Down
3: Cases Reserved
4: Original Jurisdiction
5: Court of Disputed Returns
6: Special Leave Granted
7: Cases Not Proceeding or Vacated
8: Special Leave Refused

1: Summary of New Entries

2: Cases Handed Down

Case	Title
Van Beelen v The Queen	Criminal Law
Thorne v Kennedy	Family Law
HFM045 v The Republic of Nauru	Migration

3: Cases Reserved

Case	Title
Kalbasi v The State of Western Australia	Criminal Law
Probuild Constructions (Aust) Pty Ltd v Shade Systems Pty Ltd & Anor	Judicial Review
Maxcon Constructions Pty Ltd v Vadasz & Ors	Judicial Review
Falzon v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection	Migration

4: Original Jurisdiction

5: Court of Disputed Returns

Case	Title
Re Nash	Court of Disputed Returns

6: Special Leave Granted

Case	Title
Strickland (a pseudonym) v Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions & Ors; Tucker (a pseudonym) v Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions & Ors; Hodges (a pseudonym) v Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions & Ors; Galloway (a pseudonym) v Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions & Ors	Criminal Law
Collins v The Queen	Criminal Law
Nobarani v Mariconte	Probate

7: Cases Not Proceeding or Vacated

Case	Title
Traljesic v Bosnia and Herzegovina & Anor	Extradition
CRI028 v The Republic of Nauru	Migration
YAU026 v The Republic of Nauru	Migration
YAU027 v The Republic of Nauru	Migration
Briggs v State of New South Wales	Negligence

2: Cases Handed Down

The following cases were handed down by the High Court of Australia during the November 2017 sittings.

Criminal Law

Van Beelen v The Queen

A8/2017: [2017] HCA 48

Judgment delivered: 8 November 2017

Coram: Bell, Gageler, Keane, Nettle and Edelman JJ

Catchwords:

Criminal law – Appeal against conviction – Second or subsequent appeal – Application for permission to appeal pursuant to s 353A(1) of Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935 (SA) – Where appellant convicted of murder – Where expert evidence of time of death given at trial based on stomach contents of deceased – Where new evidence demonstrated expert estimation of time of death at trial erroneous – Where new evidence required to be fresh and compelling in order to be admitted – Where evidence compelling if reliable, substantial and highly probative in context of issues in dispute at trial – Whether new evidence substantial – Whether new evidence highly probative in context of issues in dispute at trial – Whether in interests of justice to consider new evidence on appeal – Whether admission of evidence based on stomach contents at trial occasioned substantial miscarriage of justice – Whether significant possibility jury acting reasonably would have acquitted had new evidence been before it.
Words and phrases –…

Grounds of appeal

[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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Details

Case: [2017] HCAB 9
Decision Date

CaseChat Overview and Summary

In Van Beelen v The Queen, the High Court dismissed the appeal against conviction by the appellant, Van Beelen. Van Beelen had been convicted of murder. The Court found that the new evidence of the time of death of the victim did not require the Court to consider it as it was not fresh, compelling, substantial or highly probative. The Court held that there was no substantial miscarriage of justice in the conviction of Van Beelen and dismissed the appeal. In Thorne v Kennedy, the High Court allowed the appeal of the respondent, Kennedy. The Court found that the pre-nuptial and post-nuptial agreements between the parties were voidable as they were entered into under duress, undue influence and unconscionable conduct. The Court held that the primary judge's reasons were inadequate in determining the agreements and allowed the appeal. In HFM045 v The Republic of Nauru, the High Court allowed the appeal of the appellant, HFM045. The Court found that the Refugee Status Review Tribunal did not provide HFM045 with notice of adverse country information relevant to the Tribunal's determination on which it ultimately relied. The Court held that the failure of the Tribunal to put the substance of the information to the appellant constituted a breach of the requirements of procedural fairness and allowed the appeal.

Orders