R v G (CA272/06)

In the Court of Appeal of New Zealand, the appellant appealed against his conviction for sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection against the complainant, B. The appellant argued that the trial judge should have declared a mistrial when he was discharged on two out of three counts of sexual offending due to a miscarriage of justice. The central issue was whether the trial judge's refusal to order a mistrial led to a miscarriage of justice. The court considered the impact of the jury hearing evidence and references to the complainant A, the loss of opportunity to cross-examine B, and the distress of A which led to the discharge of the counts relating to her. The court held that the directions given by the trial judge were sufficient to address the potential prejudice and that no miscarriage of justice occurred. The appeal was dismissed.