SV v The Queen

[2017] ACTCA 41

ACT Court of Appeal

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Appeal
2. › Criminal appeal
3. › Appeal against conviction
4. › Application to amend notice of appeal out of time
5. › Whether reasonable probability that refusal might cause miscarriage of justice
6. › Court Procedures Rules 2006 (ACT), r 5071
1. Appeal
2. › Criminal appeal
3. › Grounds of appeal
4. › Sufficiency of evidence
5. › Whether trial judge should have directed verdict of acquittal
6. › Whether evidence taken at its highest could sustain verdict of guilty
7. › Crimes Act 1900 (ACT), s 287
1. Evidence
2. › Competence of witnesses
3. › Child witnesses
4. › Whether competence inquiry should be conducted in presence of jury
5. › Distinction between competence and credibility
6. › Evidence Act 2011 (ACT), ss 13, 189
1. Criminal Law
2. › Practice and procedure
3. › Duty of prosecutor to call witnesses
4. › Whether Crown obliged to call very young child as witness
5. › Whether child was material witness

Quick Take

The absence of DNA evidence at a crime scene does not prove that the alleged conduct did not occur at that location; the distinction between evidence of absence and absence of evidence must be maintained. Competence of child witnesses is a preliminary question under s 189 of the Evidence Act 2011 (ACT) and is generally determined in the absence of the jury. The Crown's duty to call material witnesses does not extend to calling a very young child where there is no basis for identifying the child as a material witness.