Button v The Queen

[2001] WASCA 7

Western Australia Court of Appeal

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Evidence
2. › Hearsay
3. › Exceptions to hearsay rule
4. › Declarations against penal interest
5. › Confession by deceased third party to commission of offence
6. › Whether admissible to exculpate accused
7. › Whether question should be reserved for full court
1. Evidence
2. › Hearsay
3. › Documentary hearsay
4. › Statements by deceased persons
5. › Evidence Act 1906 (WA), s 79C
6. › Whether exclusion in s 79C(4) applies to confession made to minister of religion
1. Evidence
2. › Admissibility
3. › Affidavit evidence on appeal
4. › Objections on grounds of hearsay and opinion
5. › Whether evidence should be struck out at preliminary hearing
1. Appeal and New Trial
2. › Criminal appeal
3. › Reference by Attorney-General
4. › Fresh evidence
5. › Preliminary ruling on admissibility of affidavit evidence
6. › Sentencing Act 1995 (WA), s 144

Quick Take

The ruling confirms that non-expert opinion evidence about the likely effect of evidence on trial outcomes is inadmissible, and that hearsay evidence of facts within the knowledge of other persons must be proved by those persons directly or by production of records. The critical question whether confessions by a deceased third party to the offence of which the appellant was convicted are admissible as an exception to the hearsay rule was reserved for the full Court of Criminal Appeal, with the single judge providing an extensive review of the unsettled state of Australian law on declarations against penal interest following Bannon v The Queen. The court also applied the purposive approach to statutory interpretation from CIC Insurance to construe s 79C(4) of the Evidence Act 1906 (WA).