High Court of Australia
HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA
GAGELER CJ,
GORDON, EDELMAN, STEWARD, GLEESON, JAGOT AND BEECH‑JONES JJ
BQ APPELLANT
AND
THE KING RESPONDENT
BQ v The King
[2024] HCA 29
Date of Hearing: 10 May 2024
Date of Judgment: 14 August 2024
S173/2023
ORDER
Appeal dismissed.
On appeal from the Supreme Court of New South Wales
Representation
G A Bashir SC with G E L Huxley and N A Wootton for the appellant (instructed by Legal Aid NSW)
H R Roberts SC with M L Millward for the respondent (instructed by Solicitor for Public Prosecutions (NSW))
Notice: This copy of the Court's Reasons for Judgment is subject to formal revision prior to publication in the Commonwealth Law Reports.
CATCHWORDS
BQ v The King
Evidence – Criminal trial – Expert evidence – Opinion evidence – Credibility evidence – Admissibility – Where s 79(1) of Evidence Act 1995 (NSW) provides exception to opinion rule for evidence of opinion that is based wholly or substantially on specialised knowledge based on training, study or experience – Where s 108C of Evidence Act provides similar exception in case of credibility rule – Where appellant convicted of multiple child sexual offences against two nieces – Where respondent adduced evidence from expert witness concerning possible responses of victims of child sexual assault – Where expert gave opinion about circumstances of and responses to child sexual assault in "intra-familial" context – Where expert gave evidence that intra-familial child sexual assault often takes place within family home with other family members proximate – Whether expert evidence went beyond accepted area of expertise and was therefore inadmissible – Whether miscarriage of justice arose from failure to give general and particular directions to jury to limit use of expert evidence.
Words and phrases – "area of expertise", "behaviour of perpetrators", "child sexual assault", "credibility", "credibility rule", "direction", "evidence", "expert evidence", "expert witness", "illegitimate use", "intra-familial context", "opinion rule", "responses of victims of child sexual assault", "specialised knowledge", "wholly or substantially based".
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