R v Wassmuth; Ex parte Attorney-General (Qld)

[2022] QCA 113

Queensland Court of Appeal

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Catchwords

1. Criminal Law
2. › Evidence
3. › Admissibility
4. › Evidence obtained by unlawful search
5. › Pre-trial ruling excluding evidence
6. › Whether search of vehicle without warrant was lawful
7. › Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 2000 (Qld), ss 31, 32, 150
1. Statutes
2. › Interpretation
3. › Police powers
4. › Power to search vehicle without warrant
5. › Whether power confined to circumstances where warrant not obtainable
6. › Relationship between specific warrantless search power and general warrant provisions
7. › Anthony Hordern principle
8. › Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 2000 (Qld), ss 31, 32, 150
1. Criminal Law
2. › Appeal and new trial
3. › Reference under s 668A Criminal Code (Qld)
4. › Point of law referred by Director of Public Prosecutions
5. › Power to set aside pre-trial ruling
6. › Criminal Code (Qld), s 668A

Quick Take

Section 31 of the Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 2000 (Qld) authorises police to search a vehicle without a warrant whenever the prescribed circumstances in s 32 are reasonably suspected, regardless of whether there was time to obtain a warrant under s 150. The line of single-judge authority following R v Keen, which confined s 31 to exigent circumstances, is disapproved. The Human Rights Act 2019 (Qld) was not relied upon and its potential application to the construction of warrantless search powers remains an open question.