A trial judge is not required to use the term 'presumption of innocence' when directing a jury on the onus of proof; the critical requirement is a clear direction that the burden rests with the prosecution. The statement in Douglass v The Queen that a judge 'could not convict unless satisfied that [the accused's evidence] was not reasonably possibly true' does not mandate such a direction whenever an accused gives evidence; it is simply another way of expressing the onus of proof. The principle from R v Filipponi that in serious drug trafficking cases where general deterrence precludes a suspended sentence, a home detention order will ordinarily also be inappropriate, applies equally under the Sentencing Act 2017 (SA) as under the former Criminal Law (Sentencing) Act 1988 (SA).
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