Crockford v R [2022] NSWCCA 115

Court of Criminal Appeal Supreme Court New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Crockford v R [2022] NSWCCA 115 Hearing dates: 06 May 2022 Date of orders: 03 June 2022 Decision date: 03 June 2022 Before: Basten AJA at [1]; Price J at [127]; N. Adams J at [128] Decision: (1) Grant the applicant leave to appeal from convictions in the District Court. (2) Dismiss the appeal. Catchwords: CRIME – appeals – appeal against conviction – challenge to prosecutor's address to jury – misstatement of evidence – use of colloquial expressions – tendency to inflame prejudice – expression of personal opinions – miscarriage of justice CRIMINAL PROCEDURE – whether prosecutor's submissions on accused's lies unfair – prosecutor's characterisation of defence case as "red herring" and "myth" inappropriate but qualified – whether prosecutor impugned own witnesses' credit – whether prosecutor impugned defence counsel – trial judge correction of baseless allegation against accused – whether prosecutor's emotive language caused prejudice – no miscarriage of justice Legislation Cited: Criminal Appeal Act 1912 (NSW), s 5 Evidence Act 1995 (NSW), s 38 Supreme Court (Criminal Appeal) Rules 2021 (NSW) r 4.15 Cases Cited: Armstrong v R [2013] NSWCCA 113 Glenn (a pseudonym) v R [2020] NSWCCA 308 Hofer v The Queen [2021] HCA 36; 95 ALJR 937 Hughes v R (2015) 93 NSWLR 474; [2015] NSWCCA 330 Livermore v R (2006) 67 NSWLR 659; [2006] NSWCCA 334 Lyndon v R [2014] NSWCCA 112 Zhou v R [2021] NSWCCA 278 Zurshig v R [2021] NSWCCA 309 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Robert Vernon Crockford (Applicant) Director of Public Prosecutions (NSW) (Respondent) Representation: Counsel: Mr L Brasch (Applicant) Mr B Hatfield/Ms E Nicholson (Respondent)