WJG v The Queen

The appellant, WJG, appealed to the Full Court of the Supreme Court of South Australia against his conviction for sexual offences. The charges arose from allegations made by AH and JH, who were related to the appellant. The appeal was initially against both conviction and sentence, but the appellant later abandoned the appeal against sentence. The primary dispute concerned the trial judge's findings of fact and the sufficiency of evidence to establish guilt beyond reasonable doubt for two counts of sexual offending.

The legal issues before the Full Court included whether the trial judge erred in finding the appellant guilty of sexual intercourse with JH (Count 2) given alleged inconsistencies in JH's evidence, and whether the trial judge was correct in treating the appellant's evidence regarding Count 3 as a denial of the offending. Specifically, the court had to determine if the trial judge was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the sexual intercourse occurred as alleged and whether the appellant's admissions and denials concerning the incident involving AH and JH were properly assessed.

The Full Court considered the trial judge's assessment of JH's reliability and credibility in relation to Count 2. Despite acknowledging some discrepancies in JH's account, the trial judge found her evidence regarding the trip to Adelaide and the subsequent sexual intercourse to be credible and accepted it as proof beyond reasonable doubt. The court noted that the trial judge had carefully considered the appellant's defence and rejected his version of events. Regarding Count 3, the court observed that the trial judge treated the appellant's statement, "It may be possible, but I don’t recall it," in response to allegations of touching AH and JH on their breasts in a vehicle, as a denial of the offending, which the Full Court found to be an appropriate approach given the context.

The Full Court dismissed the appeal against conviction.