Regina v Heron [2000] NSWCCA 312

New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal

CITATION : Regina v Heron [2000] NSWCCA 312 FILE NUMBER(S) : CCA 60383/98 HEARING DATE(S) : 10 April 2000 JUDGMENT DATE : 17 August 2000

PARTIES : Regina v Michael Heron JUDGMENT OF : Priestley JA at 1; Foster AJA at 123; Simpson J at 126

LOWER COURT JURISDICTION : Supreme Court LOWER COURT FILE NUMBER(S) : 70024/97 LOWER COURT JUDICIAL Sully J OFFICER :

COUNSEL : Appellant - W.G. Roser Crown - L.M.B. Lamprati SOLICITORS : Appellant - T.A. Murphy Crown - S.E. O'Connor CATCHWORDS : Murder - appeal against conviction - application for leave to appeal against sentence LEGISLATION CITED : Evidence Act 1995 (NSW) Crofts v The Queen (1996) 186 CLR 427 Jones v The Queen (1997) 191 CLR 439 M. v The Queen (1994) 181 CLR 487 R v Gilbert Adam [1999] NSWCCA 197 CASES CITED: R v Richard Adam (1999) 106 A Crim R 510 R v D (1997) 68 SASR 571 R v Machin (1996) 68 SASR 526 R v Pavlukoff (1953) 106 CCC R v Webb (1997) 68 SASR 545 R v Zorad (1990) 19 NSWLR 91 DECISION : Appeal against conviction dismissed.; Application for leave to appeal against sentence granted; Appeal against sentence dismissed

IN THE COURT OF

CRIMINAL APPEAL

CCA 60383/98

PRIESTLEY JA FOSTER AJA SIMPSON J

Thursday, 17 August 2000

REGINA v HERON

MURDER - APPEAL AGAINST CONVICTION - APPLICATION FOR LEAVE TO APPEAL AGAINST SENTENCE.

At trial the prosecution case was that the death of Mr Jularic was caused by the appellant stabbing him with a knife in the course of a fight in a hotel pool room. The appellant admitted he had fought with Mr Jularic but denied having a knife or stabbing him. The medical evidence from the post mortem examination was that the fatal wound was made by a knife like object. Some glasses had been broken during the fight. The appellant's case was that it was not unlikely that a shard of glass had accidentally caused the penetrating wound. Some witnesses gave evidence of having seen a knife in the appellant's hand, some had heard voices exclaiming " he's got a knife ".