Where a prosecution for murder under s 279(1)(b) of the Criminal Code (WA) relies on an intention to cause bodily injury of a life-endangering nature, the prosecution must identify the specific bodily injury alleged to have been intended, and the trial judge must direct the jury accordingly. A failure to do so, where the prosecution case is ambiguous as to the intended injury, constitutes a miscarriage of justice. Where the State makes forensic decisions at trial to run its case on a general and unfocused basis, and makes concessions at sentencing inconsistent with a narrower case, it may be unjust to permit the State to run a substantially different case at retrial.
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