R v AAR

In this matter, the appellant appealed against both his conviction and sentence. The appellant had been found guilty of five counts of indecent treatment of a child under 16 years, with the aggravating circumstance that the child was under 12 years, and with the additional aggravating circumstance that the child was under the care of the appellant. The appellant was acquitted of four other counts of indecent treatment. The appellant contended that the verdicts were "unsafe and unsatisfactory" and inconsistent with one another and not supported by the evidence. The appellant also challenged the form of directions given by the trial judge in relation to the presence of a support person for the child witnesses, and the appellant appealed against the sentence imposed, contending that it was manifestly excessive.

The court considered whether the verdicts were irreconcilable or whether it was open to the jury to find the appellant guilty in all the circumstances. The court found that the jury was entitled to accept the complainant’s evidence on the counts of which the appellant was convicted, and the not guilty verdicts on the earlier counts were explicable on the basis of the jury adopting a cautious approach to those offences. The court also considered whether the trial judge’s directions in relation to the presence of a support person for the child witnesses amounted to a substantial miscarriage of justice and found that they did not. The court considered whether the sentence was manifestly excessive, and while the appellant was aged between 53 and 60 at the time of the offending and had limited mitigating circumstances, the court found that the sentence was manifestly excessive.

The court dismissed the appeal against conviction and granted leave to appeal against the sentence. The court allowed the appeal against sentence and set aside the sentence imposed upon the appellant for counts 4, 6, 7, 8 and 9 and instead sentenced the appellant as follows: for each of counts 6, 7, 8 and 9, order that the appellant be imprisoned for a period of three years and six months; for count 4, order that the appellant be imprisoned for a period of one year; and the terms of imprisonment are to be served concurrently.