Croft v R [2021] NSWCCA 146

Court of Criminal Appeal Supreme Court New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Croft v R [2021] NSWCCA 146 Hearing dates: 21 June 2021 Date of orders: 5 July 2021 Decision date: 05 July 2021 Before: Basten JA at [1]; Price J at [42]; Garling J at [43] Decision: (1) Grant the applicant leave to appeal. (2) The appeal is dismissed. Catchwords: CRIME – trial procedure – prosecution evidence in rebuttal – whether splitting case – whether rebuttal of good character evidence – defence evidence that accused not violent – defence not foreseeable – evidence of angry behaviour in rebuttal – relationship between tendency evidence and character evidence CRIME – appeals – directions to jury – jury sought explanation of "reasonable doubt" – whether judge wrongly described meaning of term as a question of fact – whether apology for lack of assistance erroneous – whether need for comparison with civil standard Legislation Cited: Children (Criminal Proceedings) Act 1987 (NSW), s 15A Crimes Act 1900 (NSW), ss 63, 78, 81, 578A Evidence Act 1995 (NSW), s110 Cases Cited: The Queen v Chin (1985) 157 CLR 671; [1985] HCA 35 The Queen v Dookheea (2017) 262 CLR 402; [2017] HCA 36 Texts Cited: R Weinstein, J Anderson, J Marychurch and J Roy, Uniform Evidence in Australia (3rd ed, Lexis Nexus Butterworths, 2020) par 110-14. Category: Principal judgment Parties: Geoffrey Croft (Applicant) Regina (Respondent) Representation: Counsel: Mr T Game SC / Ms A Cook (Applicant) Ms M Millward (Respondent)