Chidiac v The Queen [1991] HCA 4

High Court of Australia Mason C.J. Dawson, Toohey, Gaudron and McHugh JJ. Chidiac v The Queen [1991] HCA 4

ORDER Grant to the applicant Asfour an extension of time in which to apply for special leave to appeal. Applications for special leave to appeal refused.

Cur. adv. vult.

The following written judgments were delivered:—

1991, March 1 Mason C.J.

Each applicant was convicted of conspiring with the other and with three named persons and others to import into Australia prohibited imports to which s. 233B of the Customs Act 1901 Cth applied, being narcotic goods consisting of a quantity of heroin not less than the trafficable quantity. The New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal (Gleeson C.J., Meagher J.A. and Loveday J.) dismissed appeals against those convictions. The applicants now seek special leave to appeal against the dismissal of the appeals on two broad grounds. The first principally concerns deficiencies in the trial judge's directions about corroborating evidence. The second ground is that the convictions were unsafe or unsatisfactory, though this ground was advanced principally by Chidiac.

The trial

The Crown case depended very largely upon the evidence of two accomplices, Alfred Oti and Wilson Kwalu. The Crown case was that Oti and Kwalu lived in the Solomon Islands, Oti being a senior officer in the Solomon Islands Customs Service, Kwalu being a relative of Oti and a taxi driver. There was evidence that on four specific occasions they were involved in the importation of drugs into Australia. On the last of these occasions the drug was positively identified as heroin and the evidence entitled the jury to conclude that the same drug was involved on the other three occasions.

It all began when a man known as "George" introduced himself to Oti and Kwalu in 1979 or 1980. He arranged with them that he would post drugs concealed in framed pictures to them in Honiara from Malaysia. They would collect the drugs and send them to Sydney. In 1984 George informed Oti that a parcel of drugs would be sent from Malaysia late in the year. Oti was to collect it and send it on to George in Sydney. George introduced Oti to Asfour by telephone and Asfour discussed drugs with Oti. The first importation into Australia occurred in November 1984 when Kwalu arrived in Brisbane with packages of powder taped to his legs. He gave evidence that Asfour and George met him at the airport and that they then travelled by bus to Sydney, the packages having been placed in a briefcase carried by George or Asfour. Kwalu was paid by Oti for his part in this venture with funds sent from Sydney after Kwalu returned to Honiara.