Fennell v The Queen [2019] HCA 37

HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA

KIEFEL CJ, KEANE, NETTLE, GORDON AND EDELMAN JJ

STEVEN MARK JOHN FENNELL APPELLANT

AND

THE QUEEN RESPONDENT

Fennell v The Queen [2019] HCA 37 Date of Hearing: 11 September 2019 Date of Order: 11 September 2019 Date of Publication of Reasons: 6 November 2019 B20/2019

ORDER

1. Appeal allowed.

2. Set aside the order made by the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Queensland on 21 July 2017 and in its place order that:

(a) the appeal be allowed;

(b) the appellant's conviction for murder be quashed; and

(c) a verdict of acquittal be entered.

On appeal from the Supreme Court of Queensland

Representation

S C Holt QC with K B W Gover for the appellant (instructed by Anderson Fredericks Turner)

M R Byrne QC with C W Wallis for the respondent (instructed by Director of Public Prosecutions (Qld))

Notice: This copy of the Court's Reasons for Judgment is subject to formal revision prior to publication in the Commonwealth Law Reports.

CATCHWORDS

Fennell v The Queen

Criminal law – Murder – Appeal – Appeal against conviction – Where appellant convicted by jury ­– Where Crown case based entirely on circumstantial evidence – Where circumstantial evidence related to opportunity and motive and miscellany of other inculpatory matters – Where evidence of opportunity and motive extremely weak – Where evidence connecting accused to alleged murder weapon based on glaringly improbable identification evidence – Whether verdict unreasonable or cannot be supported having regard to evidence.

Words and phrases – "basis for an inference", "circumstantial case", "contamination of recollection", "credibility and reliability", "glaringly improbable", "identification evidence", "identification of object", "motive", "murder weapon", "opportunity", "unreasonable verdict".

Criminal Code (Qld), s 668E(1).