Kingswell v The Queen

The High Court of Australia heard an appeal from the Supreme Court of Queensland in *Kingswell v The Queen*. The appellant, Kingswell, had been convicted of the offence of conspiracy to defraud the Commonwealth, contrary to s 86 of the *Crimes Act 1914* (Cth). The central dispute concerned the admissibility of certain evidence obtained by the Australian Federal Police.

The primary legal issue before the High Court was whether evidence obtained by police in contravention of statutory provisions, specifically s 30 of the *Crimes Act 1914* (Cth) which governs the production of seized documents, was admissible in criminal proceedings. The court was required to consider the effect of such contravention on the admissibility of the evidence, particularly in light of the common law exclusionary rule and the discretion of the trial judge to exclude improperly obtained evidence.

The High Court, by majority, held that the evidence was admissible. The majority reasoned that while the police had acted in contravention of s 30, this did not automatically render the evidence inadmissible. They applied the principle that evidence obtained in contravention of a statute is not necessarily excluded, and that the trial judge retains a discretion to admit or exclude such evidence, weighing the probative value against the unfairness to the accused or the impropriety of the conduct. The court distinguished between evidence obtained in breach of a statutory duty and evidence obtained in breach of a common law right, finding that the former did not automatically attract the exclusionary rule.

The appeal was dismissed, and the conviction was affirmed.