SKIPWORTH v REGINA [2006] NSWCCA 37

New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal

CITATION: SKIPWORTH v REGINA [2006] NSWCCA 37 This decision has been amended. Please see the end of the judgment for a list of the amendments.

HEARING DATE(S): 16 December 2005

JUDGMENT DATE: 1 March 2006

JUDGMENT OF: Mason P at 1; Barr J at 60; Hall J at 61

DECISION: Appeal against conviction dismissed. Appeal as to sentence dismissed.

CATCHWORDS: EVIDENCE – sexual assault – complaint evidence – delay in making – justifiability of – where complainant's mother and offender in business relationship – where complainant and mother boarding in offender's home - EVIDENCE – sexual assault – complaint evidence – delay in making – complainant told mother 66 days after event – whether "fresh in the memory" under s 66 Evidence Act 1995 - EVIDENCE – sexual assault – complaint evidence – where "vague" or lacking clear element of complaint – probative value not outweighed by prejudice where evidence has corroborative value - DIRECTIONS TO JURY – introductory directions as to respective roles of the Crown, defence and jury – whether stressed too significant an association between the Crown and the community – whether stressed too significant an association between jury and the community – whether amounted to saying that the Crown and jury "on the same side" – whether distinguished the Crown's approach to the evidence as scrupulously fair as against the defence (D)

PARTIES: Bruce Robert SKIPWORTH v REGINA

FILE NUMBER(S): CCA 2005/1505

COUNSEL: Appellant: P Byrne SC/ G Bashir Crown: G Rowling

SOLICITORS: Appellant: C Bilinsky, Horowitz & Billinsky Crown: S Kavanagh (Solicitor for Public Prosecutions)

LOWER COURT JURISDICTION: District Court