An appeal from the Mental Health Court is an appeal in the strict sense and may only succeed if error of fact or law is shown. The Briginshaw principle does not apply to the determination of unsoundness of mind under s 27 of the Criminal Code (Qld), which is decided on the balance of probabilities. The MHC is entitled to reject expert psychiatric opinions where the reasoning is not sound, not tied to known facts, or based on information the expert was misled about, and to prefer the objective clinical evidence and the advice of assisting psychiatrists.
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