Kyriakou v The Queen

The High Court of Australia heard an application for special leave to appeal in the matter of *Kyriakou v The Queen*. The applicant, Kyriakou, sought to challenge the decision of the Court of Criminal Appeal which had dismissed his appeal against conviction. The Crown was represented by Mr R.O. Blanch, QC, and the applicant by Mr G.R. James.

The central legal issue before the High Court was whether the Court of Criminal Appeal erred in upholding the trial judge's finding that a confession made by Kyriakou was voluntary and therefore admissible in evidence. The applicant contended that the confession should have been excluded either on the grounds of involuntariness or as a matter of discretion.

The Court of Criminal Appeal, in a judgment delivered by Mr Justice Yeldham, found that the trial judge's determination of voluntariness was a finding of fact that the appellate court could not disturb unless there was no evidence to support it, the trial judge applied wrong principles, or the evidence was overwhelmingly one way. Mr Justice Yeldham was not satisfied that any of these conditions were met. The Court of Criminal Appeal reviewed the trial judge's reasons, which had rejected Kyriakou's claims regarding the admissibility of the record of interview and oral conversations, and accepted the substance of the Crown's evidence presented on the voir dire, with a minor qualification.