George v The Queen

Vincent Mana George and Denis Robert Henry Solomon are members of the Tribesmen gang who were convicted of the murder of a gang prospect, Clayton Ratima. Both appealed against their convictions. George also challenged the admissibility of certain evidence. Solomon sought to adduce new evidence and argued that the trial was unfair. The Court of Appeal dismissed both appeals. The Court rejected Solomon’s application to adduce new evidence on appeal. The evidence was not fresh, was not credible and did not satisfy the principles governing the admission of new evidence on appeal. George’s challenge to the admissibility of a hearsay statement made by a deceased witness was rejected. The Court found no error in the Judge’s direction on murderous intent and in the composite question trail provided to the jury. The Court concluded that there was no error in the Judge’s direction on intent, the admissibility of the evidence or in the conduct of the trial and that none of the grounds of appeal warranted appellate intervention.