Tannous v The Queen

The High Court of Australia heard an application for special leave to appeal in the matter of *Tannous v The Queen*. The dispute concerned the adequacy of directions given by the trial judge regarding corroboration in a trial involving multiple accused.

The central legal issue before the High Court was whether the trial judge's directions on corroboration were sufficient, particularly in a trial with multiple accused. Specifically, the court considered whether a general direction on corroboration, without identifying specific evidence capable of providing corroboration for each accused, was inadequate and potentially misleading.

The applicant argued that the trial judge's directions on corroboration, found at page 410 of the application book, were too general and not confined to the specific case against Tannous, but rather applied to all five cases before the jury. It was submitted that this generality, coupled with the manner in which the directions were expressed, rendered them both inadequate and misleading. The applicant contended that the jury might have been under the impression that admissions made by accomplices to the police could serve as corroboration, a point that the applicant's counsel argued was misleading. Justice Dawson questioned whether it was fatal for a trial judge not to identify evidence capable of corroboration, provided the proper direction as to what could amount to corroboration was given.