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Orders

Results. 47 documents found.

47 documents
Judgment 4 January 2024
Judgment 14 December 2023
Judgment 13 December 2023
Judgment 13 December 2023
Judgment 12 December 2023
Conviction for heroin trafficking upheld; thirty-year sentence set aside and enhanced to mandatory life imprisonment.
  • Criminal law — Criminal procedure act — night searches and procedural safeguards
  • Criminal law — Narcotics trafficking — proof of possession and knowledge (actual and constructive) — dominion and control
  • Criminal law — Search and seizure
  • Criminal law — sentencing
    • — appellate enhancement
    • — mandatory life imprisonment for trafficking under DCEA
  • Evidence — chain of custody and admissibility of physical exhibits — relevance, materiality, competence
Judgment 18 September 2023
Court substituted murder conviction with manslaughter, finding malice aforethought not proved beyond reasonable doubt.
  • Criminal procedure
    • — Appeal — substitution of conviction and sentence from murder to manslaughter
    • — assessors — sufficiency of judicial summing up on malice aforethought and local custom
    • — committal proceedings — compliance with s.246(2) CPA
    • — Evidence — admissibility of witness and post‑mortem evidence via video conferencing where accused and counsel are present
    • — Homicide — proof of malice aforethought beyond reasonable doubt
Judgment 12 September 2023
Judgment 11 September 2023
Judgment 9 August 2023
Judgment 1 August 2023
A warrantless premises search based on prior information was not an emergency; seized evidence excluded and conviction quashed.
  • Criminal law — Search and seizure — Emergency search — s. 42(1)(b)(ii) Criminal Procedure Act
  • Evidence — Illegally obtained evidence — Seizure and chemical analysis excluded — Conviction unsustainable
Judgment 22 June 2023
Judgment 6 June 2023
Non‑disclosure of a physical exhibit at committal is fatal unless properly tendered under section 289, rendering conviction unsafe.
  • Criminal law — Admissibility — non-disclosure at committal — resort to section 289(1)/(4) CPA to tender additional evidence
  • Criminal procedure — committal proceedings — disclosure of physical exhibits — equality of arms
  • Evidence — identification in court and non‑objection do not cure committal non‑compliance. Conviction unsustainable where primary exhibit expunged
Judgment 5 June 2023
Judgment 5 May 2023
Judgment 5 May 2023
Oral proof of chain of custody sufficed for non-easily-tampered narcotics; acquittal substituted with conviction against respondent.
  • Appellate practice — Appellate review — Substitution of acquittal with conviction where trial court misapplied evidential principles
  • Criminal law — Narcotics — Chain of custody
  • Evidence — No fixed number of witnesses required to prove a fact
Judgment 28 April 2023
Judgment 27 April 2023
Judgment 24 April 2023
Appeal allowed: armed robbery conviction quashed where prosecution failed to prove appellant was armed or threatened the victim.
  • Criminal law — admissibility of statements of absent witnesses
    • — appellate re-evaluation where conviction unsafe
    • — compliance with s.34B Evidence Act
    • — expungement of improperly admitted statements
    • — reasonable doubt from defence explanation
  • Criminal law — Armed robbery
  • Criminal law — Cautioned statements — statutory timing
Judgment 12 April 2023
Appeal allowed: convictions quashed where identification, cautioned statements and identification of recovered property were unreliable.
  • Criminal law — Visual identification and identification parades — cautioned statements — identification of recovered property
Judgment 11 April 2023
Failure to list physical narcotic exhibits at committal rendered them inadmissible and convictions unsafe.
  • Criminal procedure — committal proceedings
Judgment 11 April 2023
Proceedings where key witnesses testified in the accused’s absence violated fair trial, nullifying conviction and ordering retrial.
  • Appellate practice — Appellate jurisdiction — Court may invoke revisional powers under s.4(2) AJA where first appellate court failed to address a ground of appeal
  • Criminal procedure — Duty to furnish witness’s statement to accused
    • — Mandatory requirement
    • — non-compliance may be curable if no prejudice
  • Criminal procedure — fair trial — Evidence generally to be taken in accused’s presence — Exception where accused absent — Improvident use of s.226(1) can vitiate trial
  • Evidence — Recall of witnesses — refusal to recall witnesses who testified in accused’s absence can infringe fair hearing
Judgment 4 April 2023
For prisoner appellants time runs from presentation/receipt via prison officer; time‑bar dismissal was improper and appeal remitted.
  • Criminal procedure — Prisoners’ appeals — Notice of appeal given to officer‑in‑charge of prison within statutory time deemed filed in time — Section 363, Criminal Procedure Act
  • Appellate practice — Striking out appeals — Dismissal versus striking out — Proper remedy where appeal is time‑barred
Judgment 31 March 2023
Judgment 31 March 2023
Judgment 30 March 2023
Judgment 29 March 2023
Judgment 29 March 2023
Judgment 29 March 2023
Judgment 28 March 2023
Judgment 28 March 2023
Judgment 28 March 2023
Judgment 27 March 2023
Judgment 27 March 2023
Judgment 27 March 2023
Judgment 23 March 2023
Judgment 22 March 2023
Judgment 22 March 2023
Judgment 21 March 2023
Judgment 13 March 2023
Convictions quashed where lower courts failed to evaluate defence and prosecution failed to prove obtaining money by false pretences.
  • Criminal law — Obtaining Money by False Pretences — ingredients: false representation, fraudulent intent, inducement
  • Evidence
    • — Duty to evaluate whole evidence including defence
    • — summary is insufficient
    • — Variance between charge particulars and evidence — fatal where no amendment
Judgment 10 March 2023
Failure to allow the appellants to object to exhibits and cross‑examine a witness vitiated the trial, requiring retrial.
  • Criminal procedure
    • — denial of opportunity to object to exhibits
    • — denial of right to cross‑examination
    • — Procedural irregularity vitiating trial
    • — retrial as remedy
    • — Right to be heard
Judgment 9 March 2023
Judgment 2 March 2023
Search under WCA lawful; conviction upheld but second-count sentence amended to mandatory 20-year term.
  • Wildlife offences — Criminal burden
    • — appellate correction of unlawful sentence
    • — quality over quantity of witnesses
  • Wildlife offences — Evidence
    • — expunction where unmet
    • — oral evidence may sustain case
    • — procedural requirement to read contents of admitted documents
  • Wildlife offences — Wildlife conservation act s106 — authorized officer may search without warrant
Judgment 1 March 2023
Judgment 1 March 2023
Judgment 22 February 2023
Judgment 17 February 2023
Judgment 30 January 2023