Rusterholz v Tasmania

The appeal concerned two counts of murder, brought by the appellant, Rusterholz, against the State of Tasmania. The appeal was heard by the Full Court of the Supreme Court of Tasmania.

The central legal issue before the Court was whether the jury's verdict of guilty on both counts of murder was unreasonable or unsupportable having regard to the evidence presented at trial. This required the Court to consider the sufficiency of the circumstantial evidence and the reliability of evidence relating to admissions allegedly made by the appellant.

The Court reasoned that the circumstantial evidence, when considered as a whole, was capable of supporting the jury's conclusion. Furthermore, the Court found that factors impacting the reliability of witnesses who gave evidence of the appellant's admissions did not render those admissions inherently unreliable, particularly as they were corroborated by the circumstantial evidence. The jury was therefore entitled to accept that the appellant had admitted his guilt and that these admissions were true.

The appeal was dismissed.