A trial judge's report under r 94 of the Criminal Practice Rules 1999 (Qld) expressing reservations about a verdict should not be acted upon where the appellate court can independently assess the same evidence (here, DVD recordings of the complainant). The appellate court's task is to make its own independent assessment of the whole of the evidence. Conflicts between a complainant's evidence and that of other witnesses do not necessarily render a verdict unreasonable where the jury may have had reasons to discount the conflicting evidence.
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