R v Predragovic

[2023] QCA 123

Queensland Court of Appeal

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Criminal Law
2. › Appeal and new trial
3. › Pardon, commutation of penalty, reference on petition for pardon and inquiry after conviction
4. › Reference to Court of Appeal under s 672A Criminal Code (Qld)
5. › Whether new or fresh evidence from Commission of Inquiry established miscarriage of justice
6. › Whether convictions should be set aside and acquittals entered
7. › Criminal Code (Qld), ss 668E(1), 672A, 677
1. Criminal Law
2. › Appeal and new trial
3. › Miscarriage of justice
4. › New or fresh evidence
5. › Evidence of police misconduct and fabrication of evidence by central prosecution witnesses
6. › Whether significant possibility jury would have acquitted
7. › Criminal Code (Qld), s 668E(1)
1. Criminal Law
2. › Appeal and new trial
3. › Setting aside guilty plea on reference
4. › Whether guilty plea vitiated where entered as consequence of unsuccessful application to exclude tainted evidence
5. › Whether conduct underlying offence was encouraged by discredited police agent
1. Criminal Law
2. › Evidence
3. › Exclusion of evidence on grounds of public policy
4. › Evidence obtained through illegal or improper police operation
5. › Whether evidence should have been excluded where police agents engaged in deliberate falsification and manipulation of evidentiary material

Quick Take

A guilty plea entered during trial as a consequence of an unsuccessful application to exclude evidence may be set aside on a s 672A reference where new evidence establishes that the evidence should have been excluded on public policy grounds, and the conduct underlying the offence was encouraged by a discredited police agent. The Borsa categories for setting aside guilty pleas are not exhaustive in the context of a s 672A reference where the whole case is considered. Where law enforcement misconduct is sufficiently reprehensible, acquittals rather than retrial may be entered.