VP v R [2021] NSWCCA 11

Court of Criminal Appeal Supreme Court New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: VP v R [2021] NSWCCA 11 Hearing dates: 7 September 2020 Decision date: 05 May 2021 Before: McCallum JA at [1]; Campbell J at [114]; N Adams J at [145] Decision: (1) Grant leave to appeal. (2) Dismiss the appeal. Catchwords: CRIME – appeals – appeal against conviction – trial for offences of child sexual assault alleged to have been committed in the presence of other family members while they slept – where prosecutor gave notice that he did not intend to call certain family members as witnesses in the Crown case – tactical decision by accused not to ask to have those witnesses called and instead to seek a Mahmood direction – whether trial resulted in a miscarriage of justice Legislation Cited: Crimes Act 1900 (NSW), ss 61M(2), 66C(2) Criminal Appeal Act 1912 (NSW) Criminal Appeal Rules (NSW), r 4 Criminal Procedure Act 1986 (NSW), s 142(1)(c) Evidence Act 1995 (NSW), s 38 Cases Cited: Adam PEACOCK v R; Brendan PEACOCK v R [2008] NSWCCA 264 Chidiac v R (No 2) [2016] NSWCCA 120 Filippou v The Queen (2015) 256 CLR 47; [2015] HCA 29 Fleming v The Queen (1998) 197 CLR 250; [1998] HCA 68 Geitonia Pty Ltd v Inner West Council; Gertos v Inner West Council [2016] NSWCCA 186 Jones v R (1997) 191 CLR 439; [1997] HCA 56 M v The Queen (1994) 181 CLR 487; [1994] HCA 36 Mahmood v State of Western Australia (2008) 232 CLR 397; [2008] HCA 1 Nguyen v R [2020] HCA 23; 94 ALJR 686 Pell v The Queen (2020) 94 ALJR 394; [2020] HCA 12 R v Apostilides (1984) 154 CLR 563; [1984] HCA 38 R v Basha (1989) 39 A Crim R 337 R v Kneebone (1999) 47 NSWLR 450; [1999] NSWCCA 279 R v Markuleski (2001) 52 NSWLR 82; [2001] NSWCCA 290 Richardson v R (1974) 131 CLR 116; [1974] HCA 19 Seneviratne v The King (1936) 3 All ER 36 Whitehorn v R (1983) 152 CLR 657; [1983] HCA 42 Category: Principal judgment Parties: VP (Applicant) Crown (Respondent) Representation: Counsel: D Woodbury (Applicant) M Kumar (Respondent)