MUNN v Police

In the matter of Munn v Police, the appellant was appealing against her convictions and penalties in the Magistrates Court of South Australia. The appellant was convicted of failing to stop for a police officer, and of driving while over the legal alcohol limit. The police alleged that the appellant failed to stop her vehicle when directed to do so by two police officers who were in pursuit of her vehicle due to its high speed and noise. The appellant was also alleged to have recorded a blood alcohol concentration of 0.163% following an alcotest. The legal issues before the court were whether the magistrate gave adequate reasons for his implicit conclusion that the prosecution had established that the appellant knew that the relevant vehicle was a police car and that she was being directed to stop, and whether the appellant's convictions and penalties were appropriate.

The court found that the magistrate did give sufficient reasons for rejecting the explanation given by the appellant. The court accepted that after three attempts by the police to get the appellant to stop, which involved the police car moving in behind her vehicle while flashing red and blue lights, sounding the siren and flashing its lights on high beam, the appellant must have known it was the police whom were requiring her to stop. While it would have been preferable for the magistrate to state expressly how he reached his finding of guilt on count 1, the court found that there was sufficient information contained in his ex tempore judgment to understand how he reached that conclusion. The court also found that the penalty imposed by the magistrate was appropriate.

The appeal against conviction on count 1 was dismissed, and the appeal against conviction on count 2 was upheld. The parties were to be heard as to costs.