The Queen v Wilton

The Crown appealed to the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory against a decision to stay proceedings against the respondent, Walter Wilton. The dispute concerned an indictment that charged Mr Wilton with 36 separate counts of criminal deception, contrary to s 227(1) of the Criminal Code. The Crown alleged that between November 2016 and March 2017, Mr Wilton, who operated an electrical contracting business, submitted 36 false invoices to the Royal Darwin Hospital for works and parts that were not completed or purchased, thereby obtaining a benefit of over $148,000.

The legal issues before the court were whether the indictment, as presented by the Crown, was irregular and/or oppressive. Specifically, the court had to consider whether the Crown was entitled to lay charges for 36 separate counts of criminal deception, even though the committal process had involved agreed facts relating to only two initial counts, and whether the inclusion of these 36 counts, alongside a further charge of attempting to obstruct justice (which was not part of this appeal), created an unfair burden on the respondent.

The court reasoned that the agreed facts presented during the committal process did not bind the Crown in its subsequent choice of indictment. Subject to considerations of oppression, the Crown retained the discretion to plead a course of criminal deception as separate counts. The court found no fundamental irregularity in the indictment, noting that evidence supporting each count was likely mutually admissible and that the number of counts, while substantial, did not inherently suggest oppression, particularly as they all fell under the same offence provision and occurred within a confined period. However, the court concluded that a finding of guilt on a single, compendious offence would be inscrutable in identifying the specific facts found by a jury.

The appeal was allowed.