Section 248(4)(a) of the Criminal Code (WA) prescribes a single subjective belief — that the accused's harmful act is necessary to defend the accused or another person from a harmful act — and trial judges should not divide this into separate beliefs about the apprehended threat and the necessity of the response. The 'beliefs' in s 248(4)(c) requiring reasonable grounds refer to both the belief in s 248(4)(a) and the belief as to circumstances in s 248(4)(b). The use of 'reasonably necessary' instead of 'necessary' in jury directions, while erroneous, may not give rise to a miscarriage of justice where in context it would be understood as lowering rather than raising the threshold.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 44 later cases that cite this judgment.
7 of the 44 citing cases carry a classified treatment. How each court treated it is available to signed-in members.