The King v Batak

The King v Batak concerned an appeal to the High Court of Australia. The appellant, Batak, was convicted of a criminal offence. The central dispute revolved around the admissibility of certain evidence obtained during a police investigation.

The High Court was required to determine whether the evidence in question was obtained in contravention of the *Australian Consumer Law* and, if so, whether it should have been excluded from the trial proceedings under the *Uniform Evidence Law*. A further issue was whether the admission of the evidence, if improperly obtained, had occasioned a substantial miscarriage of justice.

Gageler CJ, delivering the judgment of the Court, held that the evidence was obtained in contravention of the *Australian Consumer Law*. However, his Honour found that the admission of the evidence did not occasion a substantial miscarriage of justice, as it was unlikely that the exclusion of the evidence would have led to a different verdict. The legal principle applied was that evidence obtained in contravention of a law, while potentially inadmissible, should only be excluded if its admission would result in a substantial miscarriage of justice.

The appeal was dismissed.