Ahmed v R [2021] NSWCCA 280

Court of Criminal Appeal Supreme Court New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Ahmed v R [2021] NSWCCA 280 Hearing dates: 25 August 2021 Decision date: 29 November 2021 Before: Bathurst CJ at [1]; Garling and Wright JJ at [64] Decision: (1) Grant the applicant leave to appeal. (2) Quash the conviction of the applicant for the murder of Khondkar Fariha Elahi and order that there be a new trial. Catchwords: CRIME – appeals – appeal against conviction – unreasonable verdict – trial – judge alone – murder – domestic violence – mental illness – partial defences – whether the accused had a "substantial impairment" – opinion evidence – expert opinion – whether the trial judge unreasonably rejected opinion evidence – Crimes Act 1900 (NSW), s 23A CRIMINAL PROCEDURE – trial – judge alone – appeal against conviction – new trial – miscarriage of justice – murder – domestic violence – whether a warning should have been given that no adverse inference can be drawn from the failure of an accused to give evidence – where the warning was not mandatory – where the onus lay on the accused to establish a partial defence – whether the warning can be implied from a right to silence direction –Criminal Procedure Act 1986 (NSW), s 133(3) – Criminal Appeal Act 1912 (NSW), s 6(1) – Crimes Act 1900 (NSW), s 23A Legislation Cited: Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) Criminal Appeal Act 1912 (NSW) Criminal Procedure Act 1986 (NSW) Evidence Act 1995 (NSW) Cases Cited: Azzopardi v The Queen (2001) 205 CLR 50; [2001] HCA 25 Filippou v The Queen (2015) 256 CLR 47; [2015] HCA 29 Fleming v The Queen (1998) 197 CLR 250; [1998] HCA 68 GBF v R [2020] HCA 40; (2020) 94 ALJR 1037 Jones v Dunkel (1959) 101 CLR 298; [1959] HCA 8 Peacock v The King (1911) 13 CLR 619; [1911] HCA 66 Quinn v R [2018] NSWCCA 297 R v Ahmed (No 2) [2019] NSWSC 517 R v Byrne [1960] 2 QB 396 R v Trotter (1993) 35 NSWLR 428 R v Welsh (1996) 90 A Crim R 364 R v Wilson (2005) 62 NSWLR 346; [2005] NSWCCA 20 RPS v The Queen (2000) 199 CLR 620; [2000] HCA 3 Tarrant v R [2018] NSWCCA 21 Texts Cited: Nil Category: Principal judgment Parties: Shahab Ahmed (Applicant) The Crown (Respondent) Representation: Counsel: T F Woods with K Lloyd (Applicant) K Jeffreys (Respondent)