R v KENNEDY

The appeal before the Full Court of the Supreme Court of South Australia concerned a conviction against the appellant, R, for aggravated serious criminal trespass, aggravated assault, and theft. The prosecution's case at trial relied significantly on circumstantial evidence, with the central issue being the identity of the perpetrator. The appellant contended that the jury's majority verdicts of guilty were unreasonable and could not be supported by the evidence presented.

The court was required to determine whether the evidence, when viewed objectively, was capable of sustaining the jury's finding of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Specifically, the court had to assess whether the identification evidence, which was ultimately not relied upon, and the circumstantial evidence, when considered together, excluded any reasonable hypothesis consistent with the appellant's innocence.

The court reasoned that while the prosecution presented evidence of an assault and theft, the identification evidence was unreliable. Upon an independent assessment of all the evidence, the court concluded that there were competing, plausible, and unexplained hypotheses consistent with the appellant's innocence. Consequently, it was not open for the jury to be satisfied of the appellant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. The appeal was allowed, the convictions were set aside, and verdicts of not guilty were entered on all counts.