Greenwood v Barlee

[2018] ACTSC 46

Supreme Court of the ACT5 February 2018

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Appeal
2. › Criminal appeal
3. › Appeal from Magistrates Court
4. › Appeal by way of rehearing
5. › Whether magistrate's findings of fact clearly wrong
6. › Advantage of trial judge in assessing credibility
7. › Fox v Percy principles
8. › Magistrates Court Act 1930 (ACT), s 208(1)(b)
1. Criminal Law
2. › Assault
3. › Assault occasioning actual bodily harm
4. › Credibility of witnesses
5. › Whether documentary evidence inconsistent with oral evidence
6. › Crimes Act 1900 (ACT), s 24
1. Evidence
2. › Rule in Browne v Dunn
3. › Failure to cross-examine on proposition
4. › Consequences in criminal proceedings
5. › Whether failure to put proposition to witness required rejection of submission
1. Practice and Procedure
2. › Appeals
3. › Further evidence on appeal
4. › Whether police statement of facts admissible
5. › Whether statement of facts constitutes the 'information'
6. › Magistrates Court Act 1930 (ACT), s 214

Quick Take

A police statement of facts does not constitute the 'information' under ss 25 or 37 of the Magistrates Court Act 1930 (ACT) and is not a court document that must be before the Magistrates Court or the Supreme Court on appeal. The rule in Browne v Dunn is a principle of fairness whose consequences in criminal cases are not fixed; where a submission raises a scenario so unlikely it would clearly be met by a simple denial, the failure to put the proposition to the witness in cross-examination is of less significance.