Kuster v The Queen

The High Court of Australia considered an appeal by Kuster against a conviction for murder. The appeal concerned the admissibility of evidence obtained through a covert recording made by police.

The central legal issue before the High Court was whether the recording, made in circumstances where the appellant was unaware he was being recorded, was unlawfully obtained and therefore inadmissible under the *Uniform Evidence Law* (specifically, section 110 of the *Evidence Act 1995* (NSW), which was applied in the ACT). The court had to determine if the recording constituted a breach of the appellant's right to privacy or any other legal principle that would render it inadmissible.

Crennan J, delivering the judgment, reasoned that the recording was not unlawfully obtained. His Honour held that the police had acted within their lawful powers in making the recording, and that there was no statutory or common law prohibition against such covert recordings in the circumstances. The court applied the principle that evidence obtained by lawful means, even if covert, is generally admissible unless specific exclusionary rules apply. The court found that section 110 of the *Evidence Act 1995* (NSW) did not operate to exclude the evidence in this instance.

The appeal was dismissed.