Parker v The Queen

In *Parker v The Queen*, the appellant, Parker, was convicted of murder in the Supreme Court of New South Wales. The Crown alleged that Parker had intentionally caused the death of the deceased. Parker appealed his conviction to the High Court of Australia.

The central legal issue before the High Court was whether the trial judge had erred in law by failing to adequately direct the jury on the defence of provocation. Specifically, the appeal concerned the proper application of the test for provocation, which requires the jury to consider whether the act of killing was a response to a sudden or temporary loss of self-control induced by the deceased's conduct, and whether a reasonable person in the position of the accused might have reacted in the same or a similar way.

Gleeson J, delivering the judgment of the Court, held that the trial judge's summing up had been deficient. His Honour explained that the jury must be instructed that provocation can operate to reduce a charge of murder to manslaughter if it is established that the provocation was such as to cause an ordinary person to lose self-control and that the accused did, in fact, lose self-control. The jury must then consider whether the act of the accused was a response to that loss of self-control. The judge's direction had not sufficiently conveyed these elements, particularly the objective limb of the test, which requires consideration of how an ordinary person might have reacted.

The High Court allowed the appeal, quashed the conviction for murder, and ordered a new trial.