Pedersen v The State of Western Australia

Pedersen appealed to the High Court of Australia against a decision of the Supreme Court of Western Australia, which had dismissed his appeal against a conviction for murder. The central dispute concerned the admissibility of certain evidence obtained from the appellant, specifically statements made by him to police and a DNA sample.

The High Court was required to determine whether the evidence obtained from the appellant was unlawfully obtained, and if so, whether it should have been admitted into evidence at his trial. This involved considering the application of s 138 of the *Evidence Act 1995* (WA), which governs the exclusion of improperly or illegally obtained evidence. The court also had to consider whether the admission of the evidence, if improperly obtained, would have been unfair to the appellant.

The High Court held that the evidence was unlawfully obtained because the police failed to comply with the requirements of s 126 of the *Criminal Investigation Act 2006* (WA) when questioning the appellant. However, the court found that the admission of the evidence was not unfair to the appellant, and therefore, the evidence was admissible under s 138(1)(c) of the *Evidence Act*. The court reasoned that the unlawfulness of the obtaining of the evidence was minor and that the probative value of the evidence was high, while the potential for unfairness was low. The appeal was accordingly dismissed.