R v Brennan; R v Sipple

[2025] QCA 57

Queensland Court of Appeal

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Criminal Law
2. › Appeal and new trial
3. › Particular grounds of appeal
4. › Improper admission or rejection of evidence
5. › Evidence of uncharged offending
6. › Whether evidence attracted Pfennig principles
7. › Whether evidence led for propensity purpose or as admissions
8. › Criminal Code 1995 (Cth), ss 11.1(1), 307.5(1)
1. Criminal Law
2. › Appeal and new trial
3. › Verdict unreasonable or insupportable having regard to evidence
4. › Circumstantial case
5. › Whether prosecution excluded reasonable hypothesis consistent with innocence
6. › Inconsistencies in police officer evidence
7. › Whether open to jury to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt
1. Criminal Law
2. › Appeal and new trial
3. › Miscarriage of justice
4. › Fresh evidence
5. › Non-disclosure by prosecution
6. › Whether fresh evidence when evaluated with trial evidence required convictions to be set aside
7. › Whether significant possibility jury would have acquitted
1. Evidence
2. › Admissibility
3. › Evidence of uncharged acts
4. › Distinction between propensity evidence and evidence led for other purposes
5. › Admissions inextricably intertwined with references to prior offending
6. › Pfennig v The Queen (1995) 182 CLR 461

Quick Take

Evidence of uncharged offending that constitutes admissions to the charged offence — where the accused describes current offending as a repetition of earlier criminal conduct — is admissible without satisfying the Pfennig 'no rational view' test, provided it is not led for a propensity purpose.