SK v The Queen; BK v The Queen; Ms v The Queen; Sakieh v The Queen

Four appellants, SK, BK, Ms and Sakieh, were convicted of two counts of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. The appeals against their convictions were heard in the High Court of Australia. The central issue was whether the jury's verdict was unreasonable, given the evidence presented at trial. The court had to determine whether the evidence was sufficient to support the conclusion that all four appellants were part of the group that invaded the victims' unit and balcony. The Crown's case relied on CCTV footage of the street and the victims' testimony to establish that the same group of males who walked up the street returned and entered the balcony area.

The court found that the CCTV footage was not conclusive evidence of the appellants' presence on the balcony, and the victims' evidence was not strong enough to make out the Crown's case beyond reasonable doubt. The court concluded that the Crown had not excluded the reasonable hypothesis that at least one group member did not return down the street or did not enter the balcony area. The court held that the jury's verdict was unreasonable, and the appeals of three of the appellants were allowed. However, the appeal of the fourth appellant, Sakieh, was dismissed because intercepted telephone calls demonstrated his presence on the balcony.

The majority of the court was satisfied that the intercepted telephone calls were a reliable method of proving Sakieh's presence on the balcony. The court noted that the intercepted calls provided direct evidence of Sakieh's involvement in the crime and were not subject to the same uncertainties as the CCTV footage and victims' testimony. Therefore, the appeal of the fourth appellant was dismissed, and his convictions were upheld. In summary, the High Court found that the verdicts of three of the appellants were unreasonable, but the appeal of the fourth appellant was dismissed due to the intercepted telephone calls.