DH v R [2020] NSWCCA 2

Court of Criminal Appeal Supreme Court New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: DH v R [2020] NSWCCA 2 Hearing dates: 20 November 2019 Decision date: 06 February 2020 Before: Hoeben CJ at CL at [1]; Price J at [145]; Campbell J at [147] Decision: (1) Leave to appeal against conviction granted. (2) Appeal against conviction dismissed. Catchwords: CRIMINAL LAW – conviction appeal – judge alone trial – twelve counts of sexual offending against four victims – applicant convicted of seven and acquitted on five counts – victims aged between 5 and 15 – tendency evidence – a single ground of appeal – whether verdicts of guilt were unreasonable having regard to the evidence – applicant's case that evidence had been concocted – complainants found by judge to be honest – evidence established physical abnormality in applicant – failure of complainants to give evidence of physical abnormality – whether this failure rendered guilty verdicts unreasonable – evidence of three complainants found to be reliable – verdicts of guilt not unreasonable – conviction appeal dismissed. Legislation Cited: Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) – ss 61M, 61O Cases Cited: Azzopardi v The Queen (2001) 205 CLR 50; [2001] HCA 25 Filippou v The Queen (2015) CLR 47; [2015] HCA 29 M v The Queen (1994) 181 CLR 487; [1994] HCA 63 MacKenzie v The Queen (1996) 190 CLR 348; [1996] HCA 35 MFA v The Queen (2002) 213 CLR 606; [2002] HCA 53; SKA v The Queen (2011) 243 CLR 400; [2011] HCA 13 The Queen v Baden-Clay (2016) 258 CLR 308; [2016] HCA 35 Category: Principal judgment Parties: DH – Applicant Regina – Respondent Crown Representation: Counsel: TD Anderson – Applicant B Baker – Respondent Crown