Speaking of
Circumstantial Evidence ….
Where the Crown case rests substantially on circumstantial evidence a jury cannot return a guilty verdict unless the Crown has excluded all reasonable hypotheses consistent with innocence
Another point, for the ODPP to consider regarding the brief of evidence that was put to them perhaps???
From the Criminal Trial Courts Bench Book
www.judcom.nsw.gov.au
I know that other legal cases have been won on circumstantial evidence, and the link cites the Gerard Bayden Clay case, as an example …
IMO
Some further details on the Allison Baden Clay case (Worthwhile noting that
they had found her body):
Murder of Allison Baden-Clay - Wikipedia Underlined BM
“On 13 June 2012, Gerard was formally interviewed at
Indooroopilly police station and
charged with Allison's murder and for interfering with her corpse.
[16] He maintained his innocence and said he would "be strenuously defending the charges".
[17] Gerard's bail application was denied on 22 June because Justice David Boddice said he posed a "significant flight risk".
[18]
The trial began in the Brisbane Supreme Court on 10 June 2014. Gerard pleaded not guilty to the charges.
[19] On 15 July, he was found guilty of murdering Allison.
[20] He was given a
life sentence with a
non-parole period of fifteen years.
[21] The charge of interfering with a corpse was dropped.”
“On 7 August 2015, Gerard
appealed his conviction to the Queensland Court of Appeal.
[22] On 8 December, his conviction was downgraded to
manslaughter,
[23][24] on the ground that the evidence at trial was not able to exclude a reasonable hypothesis that “there was a physical confrontation between [Baden-Clay] and his wife in which he delivered a blow which killed her (for example, by the effects of a fall hitting her head against a hard surface) without intending to cause serious harm.”
The decision of the Court of Appeal was controversial. T
There was a strong public reaction and a large rally was organised calling for an appeal to the
High Court of Australia.
On 18 December, a crowd estimated at around 4,000 people gathered in
King George Square in the centre of Brisbane to support the proposal that the decision be appealed.
Some members of the legal profession, in turn, were vocal in defending the decision handed down by the Court of Appeal. Prominent Queensland lawyer
Terry O'Gorman, for example, said that, "You don't have a murder case or any other case decided by who can yell out loudest in the media" and that "those who don't like it have to cop it because that is the law."
]
However, in an unusual move, the Queensland Director of Public Prosecutions decided to appeal against the downgrade.
The following year, on 31 August 2016, more than four years after Allison had died, the High Court of Australia restored the original trial murder conviction.
MOO
www.9news.com.au
www.smiconsultancy.com
thewest.com.au
