R v Tang

The High Court of Australia considered the appeal of R v Tang, a case concerning the admissibility of evidence obtained through a covert recording. The dispute arose from the Crown's use of evidence gathered by police during a covert operation, which the defence sought to exclude on grounds of impropriety.

The central legal issue before the High Court was whether the evidence obtained by the police, despite the covert nature of the operation, was admissible in criminal proceedings. This involved an examination of the principles governing the admissibility of evidence obtained in circumstances that might otherwise be considered improper, and the discretion of the court to exclude such evidence.

The Court ultimately held that the evidence was admissible. Their Honours reasoned that while the police operation involved a degree of deception, it did not render the evidence obtained unreliable or unfair to the appellant. The Court applied the principle that evidence obtained by deception is not automatically inadmissible, and that the court's discretion to exclude evidence should be exercised having regard to the probative value of the evidence and the potential prejudice to the accused. In this instance, the probative value was considered high and the prejudice minimal.