R v Sem

[2025] QCA 16

SUPREME COURT OF QUEENSLAND

CITATION:

R v SEM [2025] QCA 16

PARTIES:

R
v
SEM
(appellant)

FILE NOS:

CA No 40 of 2024
DC No 490 of 2022

DIVISION:

Court of Appeal

PROCEEDING:

Appeal against Conviction

ORIGINATING COURT:

Childrens Court at Brisbane – Date of Conviction: 27 February 2024 (Rafter SC DCJ)

DELIVERED ON:

28 February 2025

DELIVERED AT:

Brisbane

HEARING DATE:

14 February 2025

JUDGES:

Mullins P, Boddice JA and Davis J

ORDER:

Appeal against conviction is dismissed.

CATCHWORDS:

CRIMINAL LAW – APPEAL AND NEW TRIAL – VERDICT UNREASONABLE OR INSUPPORTABLE HAVING REGARD TO EVIDENCE – OPINION OF TRIAL JUDGE – where the appellant was convicted after trial by judge alone of one count of rape – where the complainant had provided inconsistent accounts of the subject matter offending – where the main issue in the trial was whether the evidence of the complainant could be accepted beyond a reasonable doubt – where the appellant submits the trial judge’s finding of guilt was unreasonable or cannot be supported having regard to the evidence – whether, in all circumstances, the trial judge’s finding of guilt was unreasonable or cannot be supported having regard to the evidence

Criminal Code (Qld), s 615C, s 644(2)
Evidence Act 1977 (Qld), s 21AK, s 93A

Coughlan v The Queen (2020) 267 CLR 654; [2020] HCA 15, distinguished
Filippou v The Queen (2015) 256 CLR 47; [2015] HCA 29, followed
Fleming v The Queen (1998) 197 CLR 250; [1998] HCA 68, followed
Lang v The Queen (2023) 278 CLR 323; [2023] HCA 29, cited
M v The Queen (1994) 181 CLR 487; [1994] HCA 63, considered
Pell v The Queen (2020) 268 CLR 123; [2020] HCA 12, considered
R v Baden-Clay (2016) 258 CLR 308; [2016] HCA 35, applied
R v Harris[2021] QCA 96, followed
R v Kelly[2021] QCA 134, cited
Robinson v The Queen (1999) 197 CLR 162; [1999] HCA 42, applied

COUNSEL:

D V Nguyen, with R M Hew, for the appellant (pro bono)
D Kovac for the respondent

SOLICITORS:

Black & Co Lawyers for the appellant (pro bono)
Director of Public Prosecutions (Queensland) for the respondent

1. MULLINS P:  I agree with Davis J.

2. BODDICE JA:  I agree with Davis J.

3. DAVIS J:  The appellant appeals against his conviction in the Childrens Court of Queensland on one count on indictment that:

   “… on or about the ninth day of February, 2022 at Brisbane City in the State of Queensland, [the appellant] raped [the complainant].”

4. The events the subject of the charge occurred eight days before the complainant’s 14^th birthday.[1]  The complainant, an Indigenous girl, was 16 years of age at the time of the trial, which was heard on 26 and 27 February 2024 by a judge without jury.

   [1]Date of birth 17 February 2008.

5. The complainant and her cousin, also a child,[2] were homeless and sleeping rough in the grounds of…