A witness's later attribution of their evidence to guesswork does not render the original evidence irrelevant or inadmissible under ss 55-56 of the Evidence Act 2008; the assessment of credibility and reliability remains the province of the jury. In sentencing for murder committed in the context of extreme and prolonged domestic violence, where the offender's moral culpability is so attenuated that the maximum and standard sentences are not helpful yardsticks, the case may call irresistibly for the exercise of mercy. The circumstances underlying the abolished defence of provocation remain relevant to moral culpability at sentencing. A sentence of 12 years (NPP 7 years) was substituted for 16 years (NPP 10 years) in such circumstances.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 2 later cases that cite this judgment.