Where evidence relating to charges on which the accused has been acquitted is adduced at the defence's request and the Crown expressly disavows reliance upon it, the principle of incontrovertibility of acquittals has limited or no relevant operation. The 'full benefit' of a prior acquittal requires an assumption that the accused was entirely innocent of the charge of which acquitted — not merely that the accused may have been innocent. The passage from R v FAR [2018] QCA 317 at [144] is confined to its particular facts and does not establish a general principle that prior acquittals must necessarily result in a forensic advantage to the accused on remaining charges.
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