Mitchell v R [2021] NSWCCA 143

Court of Criminal Appeal Supreme Court New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Mitchell v R [2021] NSWCCA 143 Hearing dates: 2 June 2021 Date of orders: 7 July 2021 Decision date: 07 July 2021 Before: Harrison J at [1] Bellew J at [2] Cavanagh J at [58] Decision: (1) The appeal against conviction is dismissed. Catchwords: CRIMINAL LAW – Offences – Appeal against conviction – Where appellant convicted of aggravated break and enter and discharging a firearm – No issue at trial as to the commission of the offences – Sole issue whether the Crown had established beyond reasonable doubt that it was the appellant who was responsible – Where observations were made by several witnesses of the person at the time of the offending – Observations inconsistent as to the person's skin colour and other characteristics – Where there were a series of other circumstances which the jury were entitled to take into account in concluding that the Crown had established its case beyond reasonable doubt – Necessity to consider a circumstantial case as a whole and not in a piecemeal fashion – Strong case against the appellant – Evidence not lacking in probative value – Open to the jury to find the offences proved beyond reasonable doubt – Appeal against convictiondismissed. Cases Cited: Libke v The Queen (2007) 230 CLR 559; [2007] HCA 30 M v The Queen (1994) 181 CLR 487; [1994] HCA 63 MacKenzie v The Queen (1996) 190 CLR 348; [1996] HCA 35 Pell v The Queen (2020) 268 CLR 123; [2020] HCA 12 R v Mitchell [2020] NSWDC 293 The Queen v Baden-Clay (2016) 258 CLR 308; [2016] HCA 35 The Queen v Hillier (2007) 228 CLR 618; [2007] HCA 13 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Richard Mitchell – Appellant Regina – Respondent Representation: Counsel: S Kluss – Appellant M Kumar – Respondent