Long v Mayger

[2003] WASCA 223

Western Australia Court of Appeal

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Appeal
2. › Criminal appeal
3. › Appeal against conviction
4. › Conviction by magistrate
5. › Appeal by way of rehearing
6. › Whether finding of fact open on evidence
7. › Whether other inferences reasonably open
8. › Justices Act 1902 (WA), s 186(1)
1. Criminal Law
2. › Offences against the person
3. › Unlawful wounding
4. › Causation
5. › Whether lacerations caused by breaking bottle or by fall onto glass
6. › Criminal Code (WA), s 301(1)
1. Evidence
2. › Circumstantial evidence
3. › Drawing of inferences
4. › Whether inference critical to guilt the only reasonable inference open
5. › Exclusion of reasonable hypotheses consistent with innocence

Quick Take

The principles governing appellate review of findings of fact in criminal cases, as stated in M v The Queen, apply equally to appeals from magistrates' findings in petty sessions as to appeals from jury verdicts. A magistrate's rejection of an alternative hypothesis consistent with innocence will be upheld where the medical and eyewitness evidence supports the finding and the alternative is properly characterised as extremely unlikely.