Hunter v The Queen

The applicant, Hunter, sought special leave to appeal to the High Court of Australia from a judgment of the Court of Criminal Appeal of New South Wales. The Court of Criminal Appeal had dismissed Hunter's appeal against his conviction for a number of sexual assaults and related offences.

The primary legal issue before the High Court was whether the Court of Criminal Appeal had misapprehended the principles established by the High Court in *Sutton* regarding the admissibility of similar fact evidence based on an "accumulation of common circumstances". The applicant argued that the common circumstances relied upon by the Court of Criminal Appeal were merely the "stock in trade" of offenders of that kind and did not, in accumulation, constitute evidence that was sufficiently remarkable to exclude any reasonable hypothesis of innocent association.

The applicant contended that *Sutton* requires that even where similar fact evidence relies on an accumulation of common circumstances, that accumulation must itself be remarkable and capable of excluding innocent explanations. The applicant submitted that the Court of Criminal Appeal failed to appreciate this aspect of *Sutton*, suggesting that the High Court's judgment in *Sutton* might require further explanation in the administration of criminal justice. The Court questioned how the Court of Criminal Appeal could have misapprehended the principle when it expressly cited the relevant passage from *Sutton*.