Slape v The Queen

The appellant, Slape, appealed his conviction to the Court of Criminal Appeal of South Australia. The appeal concerned multiple counts of sexual offences against two complainants, KP and AF. The central dispute revolved around the admissibility and proper application of certain evidence, particularly DNA evidence, and whether its use at trial occasioned a miscarriage of justice.

The Court was required to determine whether the trial judge erred in his treatment of the DNA evidence relating to the alleged offending against AF. Specifically, the appellant argued that the trial judge misunderstood the effect of the DNA evidence, including whether the appellant's DNA was detected in semen staining on AF's underpants and whether any such staining constituted semen. The appellant contended that this misunderstanding led the trial judge to improperly use the DNA evidence to support AF's account, thereby causing a miscarriage of justice. The Court also considered, but did not extensively rule upon, a potential difficulty with the cross-admissibility of evidence concerning consent in relation to one of the counts.

The Court found that the trial judge's reasoning demonstrated a misunderstanding of the nature and effect of the DNA evidence concerning AF's underpants. The appellant's contention was that the evidence did not establish that semen-like staining was present on the outer upper waistband of the underpants, nor that any mixed DNA profile, to which the appellant may have contributed, was extracted from a semen deposit. The Court concluded that the trial judge's deployment of this evidence to buttress AF's account was erroneous.

The appeal was allowed on the basis that the evidence was not cross-admissible, and therefore, there was no need for the Court to further elaborate on the specific issues concerning the DNA evidence in relation to AF.