R v Hawke

Case [2016] QCA 144

SUPREME COURT OF QUEENSLAND

CITATION:

R v Hawke [2016] QCA 144

PARTIES:

R
v
HAWKE, Laurence Eliot
(appellant)

FILE NO/S:

CA No 302 of 2014
DC No 1115 of 2012

DIVISION:

Court of Appeal

PROCEEDING:

Appeal against Conviction

ORIGINATING COURT:

District Court at Brisbane – Date of Conviction: 23 October 2014

DELIVERED ON:

7 June 2016

DELIVERED AT:

Brisbane

HEARING DATE:

26 November 2015

JUDGES:

Fraser and Philippides JJA and Jackson J
Separate reasons for judgment of each member of the Court, each concurring as to the order made

ORDER:

The appeal is dismissed.
CATCHWORDS:

CRIMINAL LAW – APPEAL AND NEW TRIAL – VERDICT UNREASONABLE OR INSUPPORTABLE HAVING REGARD TO EVIDENCE – OTHER MATTERS – where the appellant and his girlfriend were charged with armed robbery with personal violence – where the appellant and his girlfriend were charged on the basis that they were parties to the offence, rather than the person who physically committed the offence – where the appellant was found guilty by the jury – where the appellant’s girlfriend was acquitted – where the prosecution’s case relied upon evidence of a co-offender who had pleaded guilty – where the appellant alleged that the co-offender’s evidence was inherently dangerous – where this evidence was not contradicted in any material respect by other evidence – where the trial judge gave strong directions to the jury regarding the credibility of the co-offender and the reliability of his evidence – whether it was reasonably open to the jury to accept and act upon the co-offender’s evidence – whether the verdict was insupportable having regard to the evidence

CRIMINAL LAW – APPEAL AND NEW TRIAL – VERDICT UNREASONABLE OR INSUPPORTABLE HAVING REGARD TO EVIDENCE – OTHER MATTERS – where both the appellant and his girlfriend were charged with armed robbery with personal violence – where the appellant’s girlfriend was acquitted – where the prosecution’s case against both the appellant and his girlfriend required acceptance of the co-offender as a witness of truth – where the co-offender was adamant that the girlfriend was complicit in the planning of the offence – where the appellant argued that the credibility of a witness like the co-offender is not an ‘easily divisible concept’ – where the appellant alleged that doubt about the co-offender’s evidence concerning the appellant’s girlfriend’s involvement necessarily involved doubt about the evidence as a whole – where there was no independent evidence supporting the co-offender’s evidence about the appellant’s girlfriend’s involvement in the offence – whether the jury’s acquittal of the appellant’s girlfriend necessarily reflected doubt about the accuracy and reliability of the evidence concerning the appellant’s involvement – whether the jury’s verdict was insupportable having regard to the evidence

CRIMINAL LAW – APPEAL AND NEW TRIAL – PARTICULAR GROUNDS OF APPEAL – MISDIRECTION AND NON-DIRECTION – TAKING OBJECTION TO SUMMING UP – where the prosecution alleged that the appellant could be found guilty of the offence as a party under s 7(1)(d) of the Criminal Code (Qld) – where to be found…

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R v Hawke [2016] QCA 144
Case
[2016] QCA 144
Decision Date

CaseChat Overview and Summary

The appeal by the appellant, who was found guilty of armed robbery with personal violence, was heard in the Queensland Court of Appeal. The appellant's girlfriend, who was also charged with the same offence, was acquitted by the jury. The prosecution's case against both appellants relied heavily on the testimony of a co-offender who had already pleaded guilty to his part in the crime. The appellant contended that the evidence of this co-offender was inherently unreliable and that the jury should not have accepted it.

The central legal issues in this appeal revolved around whether it was reasonably open to the jury to accept the co-offender's evidence and whether the verdict was insupportable given the evidence. The appellant argued that the credibility of the co-offender's evidence concerning his girlfriend's involvement in the crime necessarily cast doubt on the evidence as a whole, including the appellant's involvement. Furthermore, the appellant raised concerns about alleged misdirections and non-directions by the trial judge regarding the statutory provisions under which he was charged.

The Court of Appeal considered the trial judge's directions to the jury and whether they contained all necessary elements for the jury to understand the legal criteria for guilt under the relevant sections of the Criminal Code. The court examined whether the trial judge's omission of specific terms such as "intend" or "know" in the directions constituted a legal error that could have misled the jury. The court also assessed whether the jury's acquittal of the appellant's girlfriend reflected doubt about the accuracy and reliability of the co-offender's evidence concerning the appellant's involvement.

In dismissing the appeal, the Court of Appeal held that it was reasonably open to the jury to accept the co-offender's evidence and that the verdict was not insupportable in light of the evidence presented. The court found that the trial judge's directions, while not perfect, did not constitute a misdirection that would warrant a new trial. The directions given were sufficient to guide the jury in understanding the legal criteria for the appellant's conviction. The appeal was thus dismissed.

Orders

Orders of the court

The appeal is dismissed.

Background

Background to the litigation

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Evidence

Evidence Before The Court

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Decision

Reasons for decision

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Ratio Decidendi

Legal Principle Established

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