Truong v The Queen

The case of *Truong v The Queen* concerned an appeal to the High Court of Australia following a conviction for murder. The appellant, Truong, had been found guilty of murder by a jury in the Supreme Court of New South Wales and subsequently appealed to the Court of Criminal Appeal of New South Wales, which dismissed his appeal. The High Court then granted special leave to appeal.

The central legal issue before the High Court was whether the trial judge had erred in law by failing to adequately direct the jury on the defence of provocation. Specifically, the court had to consider whether the jury had been properly instructed on the objective elements of provocation, namely whether the provocation was such as to cause an ordinary person to lose self-control, and the subjective elements, namely whether the particular accused did in fact lose self-control because of that provocation.

The High Court, in a joint judgment, held that the trial judge's summing up had been deficient in its explanation of the objective test for provocation. Their Honours emphasised that the jury must be instructed that the question of whether an ordinary person would have been provoked is a question of fact for the jury to determine, and that the standard of the "ordinary person" is not a rigid one but rather one that takes into account the circumstances of the case. The court reiterated that provocation, if established, reduces the crime of murder to manslaughter.

The High Court allowed the appeal, quashed the conviction for murder, and ordered a new trial on the charge of murder.