In a circumstantial case based on complicity, a trial judge's obligation to identify the evidence relevant to disputed issues is not discharged by directing the jury on the elements of the offences and then leaving it to the jury to determine the issues 'based on all the evidence'. The judge must identify the particular facts and circumstances upon which the prosecution relies to support the inferences necessary for conviction. Sections 65 and 66 of the Jury Directions Act 2015 (Vic) do little more than reflect the common law in this regard. However, the presence of DNA evidence on drug packaging, combined with other circumstantial evidence of involvement in a drug syndicate, is sufficient evidence for a properly instructed jury to find trafficking in a large commercial quantity proven.
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