The Court held that a juror's deliberate act of turning 180 degrees to make eye contact with, nod at, and smile towards the detective officer in charge of the investigation, at the precise moment the verdict jury was retiring to deliberate, gave rise to a reasonable apprehension of bias warranting discharge under s 53B(b) of the Jury Act 1977 (NSW). The timing of the interaction (immediately before deliberations), the deliberate nature of the conduct, and the detective's prominent role in the investigation — including decisions to arrest and charge each accused — established the requisite logical connection between the conduct and a departure from impartial decision-making. The Court distinguished the conduct from a juror's general expressiveness towards the presiding judge and from the circumstances in Webb v The Queen, R v Crane and R (Cth) v Cooper, and ordered the trial to continue with 11 jurors under s 53C(1)(b), finding no risk of substantial miscarriage of justice.
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