Firbank v R [2011] NSWCCA 171

Court of Criminal Appeal Supreme Court New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Firbank v R [2011] NSWCCA 171 Hearing dates: 24 June 2011 Decision date: 05 August 2011 Before: McClellan CJ at CL at [1] Hidden J at [87] Johnson J at [88] Decision: 1. Appeal upheld. 2. The convictions of the appellant in the District Court are quashed. 3. A new trial is ordered. Catchwords: CRIMINAL - irregularity in transcript passed on to jury - whether circumstance of aggravation was also an essential element of the offence as pleaded - direction to jury on lies as evidence of a consciousness of guilt - the proviso in Criminal Appeal Act 2004 did not operate in this case - conviction quashed - appeal upheld - new trial ordered. Legislation Cited: Crimes Act Criminal Appeal Act Cases Cited: Edwards v R (1993) 178 CLR 193 Pearce v The Queen (1998) 194 CLR 610 R v De Simoni (1981) 147 CLR 383 R v O'Donoghue [2005] NSWCCA 62;151 A Crim R 597 R v Price [2005] NSWCCA 285 R v Villa [2005] NSWCCA 4 Zoneff v The Queen (2000) 200 CLR 234 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Luke Firbank (Appellant) The Crown Representation: M Paish (Appellant) V Lydiard (Crown) Andrew Harris & Associates (Appellant) Solicitor for Public Prosecutions (Crown) File Number(s): 2009/4795 Decision under appeal Date of Decision: 2010-03-11 00:00:00 Before: Forno ADCJ File Number(s): 2009/4795