R v WRW [2001] NSWCCA 466

New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal

CITATION : R v WRW [2001] NSWCCA 466 FILE NUMBER(S) : CCA 60080/00 HEARING DATE(S) : 3 August 2001 JUDGMENT DATE : 26 November 2001

PARTIES : Regina v WRW JUDGMENT OF : Heydon JA at 1; Simpson J at 80; Smart AJ at 81

LOWER COURT JURISDICTION : District Court LOWER COURT FILE NUMBER(S) : 00/51/0039 LOWER COURT JUDICIAL Tupman DCJ OFFICER :

COUNSEL : Mr M C Grogan (Crown) Mr C J Bruce (Appellant) SOLICITORS : S E O'Connor (Crown) Michael Dennis (Appellant) CATCHWORDS : Criminal Law - Sexual assault - Evidence - Complaint evidence - 'Credibility rule' - Whether trial judge erred in allowing and not striking out evidence of complainant regarding reason for delay in complaint - Whether trial judge erred in failing to exclude complainant's evidence regarding belief that appellant having affair with his sister-in-law - Evidence Act 1995, ss 55, 102, 108, 135 - Criminal Law - Sexual assault - Significance of factual error in Crown prosecutor's cross-examination of appellant - Whether factual error misleading - Whether caused miscarriage of justice - Criminal Law - Sexual assault - Multiple counts - Mixture of acquittals and convictions - Whether guilty verdicts unreasonable and not supported by evidence - Credibility of complainant - Whether necessity for direction that doubts about credibility re one or more counts must affect assessment of credibility generally - ND LEGISLATION CITED : Evidence Act 1995 R v Carbone (2000) NSWCCA 387 CASES CITED: Jones v R (1997) 191 CLR 439 R v Markuleski [2001] NSWCCA 290 DECISION : Appeal against conviction dismissed.