The Queensland Court of Appeal held that a conviction for doing grievous bodily harm could not stand where the complainant's injury was not reported for months after the incident and would heal over time, meaning there was insufficient evidence of the permanency required for grievous bodily harm. The Court substituted a conviction for the lesser offence of assault occasioning bodily harm and imposed a suspended sentence of 9 months. The Court also found that a direction on s 23(1A) of the Criminal Code given without reference to s 23(1)(b) was misleading in circumstances where the complainant may have been predisposed to injury. Applications for leave to appeal against sentences of 3 and 6 months imprisonment on other assault counts were refused.
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