Tyson v The Queen

The Court of Criminal Appeal of the Northern Territory heard an appeal by Jason Mathew Tyson against his conviction for sexual intercourse without consent. The dispute centred on whether the jury's verdict was uncertain and therefore invalid, arising from the indictment charging a single count of sexual intercourse without consent, despite the Crown's case relying on three separate incidents.

The primary legal issue before the court was whether the indictment was duplicitous, rendering the jury's verdict uncertain and leading to a substantial miscarriage of justice. This involved determining if the single charge, encompassing multiple alleged acts of sexual intercourse, allowed for the possibility that the jury was not unanimous as to which specific act or acts constituted the offence. A secondary issue concerned the admissibility and prejudicial effect of a domestic violence order between the appellant and the complainant.

The Court found that the indictment was indeed duplicitous. While the Crown argued the three incidents constituted a single course of conduct, the trial judge's directions to the jury allowed them to convict if they found consent was lacking for any one or more of the acts, without requiring unanimity on which specific act(s) formed the basis of the conviction. This created uncertainty as to the jury's findings and potentially meant the appellant was convicted without a unanimous finding of guilt on any particular act. The Court also considered the domestic violence order, ultimately finding it relevant as background context to the relationship and that the trial judge's directions adequately mitigated any prejudice.

Consequently, the Court allowed the appeal on the ground of duplicity, quashed the conviction, and ordered a new trial. The other grounds of appeal were dismissed.