Booth v R [2022] NSWCCA 113

Court of Criminal Appeal Supreme Court New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Booth v R [2022] NSWCCA 113 Hearing dates: 16 May 2022 Date of orders: 3 June 2022 Decision date: 03 June 2022 Before: Beech-Jones CJ at CL at [1] Hamill J at [55] N Adams J at [65] Decision: (1) Leave to appeal against conviction granted. (2) Appeal dismissed. Catchwords: CONVICTION – APPEAL – applicant found guilty of two counts of sexual assault – acquitted on other two counts – no dispute on two guilty counts that sexual acts occurred – victim gave answer to ambiguous question capable of suggesting she consented – necessary to consider evidence as a whole – whether verdicts inconsistent – verdicts can be reconciled on basis victim's evidence imprecise about whether sexual acts on counts that led to acquittals occurred – whether verdicts of guilty unreasonable – reasonably open to jury to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that applicant knew victim did not consent Legislation Cited: Crimes Act 1900 Criminal Appeal Act 1912 Criminal Procedure Act 1986 Evidence Act 1995 Cases Cited: Chidiac v The Queen (1991) 171 CLR 432; [1991] HCA 4 Jones v The Queen (1997) 191 CLR 439; [1997] HCA 56 M v The Queen (1994) 181 CLR 487; [1994] HCA 63 Mackenzie v The Queen (1996) 190 CLR 348; [1996] HCA 35 Martin v R [2020] NSWCCA 192 MFA v The Queen (2002) 213 CLR 606; [2002] HCA 53 Pell v The Queen (2020) 268 CLR 123; [2020] HCA 12 SKA v The Queen (2011) 243 CLR 400; [2011] HCA 13 SM v R [2022] NSWCCA 13 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Shane Anthony Booth (Applicant) Regina (Crown) Representation: Counsel: Mr D Roff (Applicant) Ms E Wilkins SC (Crown)