Psychiatric opinion evidence about the emotional effects on a normal person of growing up with an abusive parent is inadmissible where the accused has no recognised psychiatric illness or syndrome, because ordinary jurors can assess such matters without expert assistance. There is no 'battered child defence' in Australian law analogous to the battered wife defence. Section 132B of the Evidence Act 1977 (Qld) facilitates the admission of relationship history evidence but does not extend to opinion evidence, which is an entirely different category.
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