R v Khaled

The case of R v Khaled was heard in the court where the appellant contested his convictions for indecent treatment of a girl under 12 and a girl under 16. The appellant's appeal raised several grounds, including improper admission of evidence, failure to give a propensity warning, inadequate directions to the jury regarding the defence of accident, and the safety of the jury's verdict. Additionally, the appellant sought to introduce new evidence regarding prejudicial material on a Facebook page.

The court was required to decide whether the trial judge's actions amounted to a miscarriage of justice. This included evaluating the impact of the trial judge reading an inadmissible portion of evidence, the omission of a propensity warning, the adequacy of the directions regarding the defence of accident, and the safety of the jury's verdict. The court also had to assess whether the Facebook page could have influenced the jury, despite no evidence suggesting the jury was aware of it.

The court found that the trial judge's direction, although including inadmissible evidence, did not constitute a miscarriage of justice as it was promptly interrupted and the defence counsel stated it was best ignored. The court further determined that the failure to give a propensity warning was not fatal, as defence counsel did not request such a direction. Regarding the defence of accident, the court concluded that the trial judge's directions were adequate despite the omission, as the evidence did not strongly support an accidental touching scenario. The court also found the jury's verdict to be safe and satisfactory. Lastly, the court dismissed the argument regarding the Facebook page, as there was no evidence of jury taint.

The appeal against the conviction was dismissed.