Where provocation is a live issue and the accused is a young adult (18 years), the trial judge must explicitly direct the jury on the relevance of the accused's age to the ordinary person test under s 304 Criminal Code (Qld), including both the gravity of the provocation and the standard of self-control. A summing up consisting mainly of an abstract statement of law followed by a lengthy summary of evidence, without relating the law to the facts, identifying the real issues, or outlining the arguments of counsel, is inadequate and may warrant a retrial. Thomas JA expressed serious reservations about the admissibility of a deceased's general reputation for violence in self-defence cases, leaving this question open for future determination.
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