Where a co-accused pleads guilty mid-trial and their record of interview ceases to be admissible, a direction to the jury to wholly disregard the record of interview is conceptually easier to comply with than the prior limited-use direction, and the trial does not thereby become unfair. The failure of defence counsel to seek redactions under s 137 of the Evidence Act 2008 (Vic) or to apply for separate trials may be treated as relevant considerations in assessing the degree of prejudice when an application to discharge the jury is later made.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 2 later cases that cite this judgment.