Adams v R [2017] NSWCCA 215

Court of Criminal Appeal Supreme Court New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Adams v R [2017] NSWCCA 215 Hearing dates: 21 June 2017 Date of orders: 01 September 2017 Decision date: 01 September 2017 Before: Hoeben CJ at CL at [1] R A Hulme J at [405] Wilson J at [406] Decision: Leave to appeal in relation to Grounds 1 and 3 refused. Remaining Grounds of Appeal dismissed. Catchwords: CRIMINAL LAW – conviction appeal – judge alone trial – offence of murder – victim's body not found – acceptance of tendency evidence fundamental to conviction – whether tendency evidence of Ms Hyde and Ms Brown properly admitted – whether probative value substantially outweighed prejudicial effect – whether his Honour correctly directed himself as to the use to which the tendency evidence could be put – whether his Honour needed to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt as to the occurrence of the conduct giving rise to the tendency found – whether his Honour erred in taking into account evidence in support of other tendency incidents when considering whether an asserted tendency existed – whether certain documents were properly admitted as "business records" – whether the verdict was unreasonable – whether his Honour failed to exclude reasonable alternative hypotheses inconsistent with guilt – appeal dismissed. Legislation Cited: Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) – s 18 Criminal Appeal Act 1912 (NSW) – s 6 Criminal Appeal Rules (NSW) – r 4 Criminal Procedure Act 1986 (NSW) – s 133 Evidence Act 1995 (NSW) – ss 55, 69, 70, 97, 101,137,192 Cases Cited: Atai v R [2014] NSWCCA 210 Barca v The Queen [1975] HCA 42; 133 CLR 82 DJS v R [2010] NSWCCA 200 Doyle v R; R v Doyle [2014] NSWCCA 4 Elomar v R; Hasan v R; Cheikho v R; Cheikho v R; Jamal v R [2014] NSWCCA 303; 316 ALR 206 Fleming v The Queen [1998] HCA 68; 197 CLR 250 Filippou v The Queen [2015] HCA 29; 256 CLR 47 Greenhalgh v R [2017] NSWCCA 94 Hughes v R [2015] NSWCCA 330 Hughes v The Queen [2017] HCA 20 IMM v The Queen [2016] HCA 14; 257 CLR 300 JWM v R [2014] NSWCCA 248 R v Adams (No 1) [2015] NSWSC 1960 R v Adams (No 2) [2016] NSWSC 1359 R v Adams (No 5) [2016] NSWSC 1563 R v Adams (No 6) [2016] NSWSC 1565 R v Shamouil [2006] NSWCCA 112; 66 NSWLR 228 The Queen v Baden-Clay [2016] HCA 35; 258 CLR 308 Thompson v The Queen [1989] HCA 30; 169 CLR 1 Thornton v R [2017] NSWCCA 86 White v Johnston [2015] NSWCA 18; 87 NSWLR 779 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Robert John Adams – Appellant Regina – Respondent Crown Representation: Counsel: G James QC/P Lange/C Parkin – Appellant M Cinque SC – Respondent Crown