Herrick v The Queen

Joshua James Herrick appealed against a decision by Judge Farish to permit the Crown to file an amended indictment, adding a charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice to the six counts of sexual offending with which he was charged. The Crown alleged that the appellant had, on 18 September 2011, threatened a proposed witness, C, not to give evidence at trial and indicating that if he did, the appellant would have him charged with credit card fraud. The appellant contended that the time period between the alleged sexual offending and the conduct leading to the charge of perverting the course of justice was too long and that the effect of joinder in the present case was to force the appellant to give evidence, thus depriving him of his right to remain silent. The Court considered that neither of the features identified by the appellant provided an appropriate basis for departing from the approach taken in R v Daleszak and R v Betti. The various counts were rightly joined in a single indictment. The Court granted leave to appeal but dismissed the appeal.