Dirani v R [2021] NSWCCA 202

Court of Criminal Appeal Supreme Court New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Dirani v R [2021] NSWCCA 202 Hearing dates: 26 March 2021 Decision date: 27 August 2021 Before: Bathurst CJ at [1]; Price J at [140]; N Adams J at [416] Decision: (1) To the extent necessary, grant the applicant leave to appeal against his conviction. (2) Appeal allowed. (3) Quash the conviction and order that there be a new trial. Catchwords: CRIME – appeals – unreasonable verdict – direct and circumstantial evidence – whether the whole of the evidence gave rise to reasonable explanations other than the applicant's guilt CRIME – appeals – appeal against conviction – miscarriage of justice – expert opinion evidence – where expert opinion evidence was mere speculation – where evidence plainly was not an expert opinion – where opinion of the expert did not involve the application of any expert skill and judgment CRIME – appeals – objection to tender of evidence – where evidence constituted an admission for the purposes of s 87 of the Evidence Act 1995 (NSW) – whether tender of evidence was unfair – forensic decision CRIME – appeals – appeal against conviction – application of proviso – miscarriage of justice – proviso not applied Legislation Cited: Criminal Appeal Act 1912 (NSW) Criminal Code (Cth) Evidence Act 1995 (NSW) Cases Cited: Barca v The Queen (1975) 133 CLR 82; [1975] HCA 42 CA v R [2017] NSWCCA 324 Campbell v R [2014] NSWCCA 175 Commonwealth v Helicopter Resources Pty Ltd [2020] HCA 16; (2020) 377 ALR 191 Dasreef Pty Ltd v Hawchar (2011) 243 CLR 588; [2011] HCA 21 EM v The Queen (2007) 232 CLR 67; [2007] HCA 46 Haines v R [2018] NSWCCA 269 HG v The Queen (1999) 197 CLR 414; [1999] HCA 2 Honeysett v The Queen (2014) 253 CLR 122; [2014] HCA 29 House v The King (1936) 55 CLR 499; [1936] HCA 40 Kalbasi v State of Western Australia (2018) 264 CLR 62; [2018] HCA 17 Lane v R (2013) 241 A Crim R 321; [2013] NSWCCA 317 Lane v The Queen (2018) 265 CLR 196; [2018] HCA 28 Livermore v R (2006) 67 NSWLR 659; [2006] NSWCCA 334 Makita (Australia) Pty Ltd v Sprowles (2001) 52 NSWLR 705; [2001] NSWCA 305 Pell v The Queen (2020) 268 CLR 123; [2020] HCA 12 R v Baden-Clay (2016) 258 CLR 308; [2016] HCA 35 R v Birks (1990) 19 NSWLR 677 R v Dirani (No 29) [2019] NSWSC 64 R v Dirani (No 3) [2018] NSWSC 882 R v Dirani (No 4) [2018] NSWSC 888 R v Dirani (No 6) [2018] NSWSC 891 R v Kingswell (Supreme Court (NSW), Smart, Studdert and Hidden JJ, 2 September 1998, unrep) R v XY (2013) 84 NSWLR 363; [2013] NSWCCA 121 Rogerson v R [2021] NSWCCA 160 Shepherd v The Queen [1990] 170 CLR 573; [1990] HCA 56 SKA v The Queen (2011) 243 CLR 400; [2011] HCA 13 Smith v The Queen (2001) 206 CLR 650; [2001] HCA 50 The Queen v Hillier (2007) 228 CLR 618; [2007] HCA 13 Velveski v R [2002] HCA 4; (2002) 76 ALJR 402 Vickers v R [2006] NSWCCA 60; (2006) 160 A Crim R 195 Weiss v The Queen (2005) 224 CLR 300; [2005] HCA 81 Texts Cited: Nil Category: Principal judgment Parties: Mustafa Dirani (Applicant) The Crown (Respondent) Representation: Counsel: TD Anderson with S Talbert (Applicant) L Crowley QC with M Kalyk (Respondent)