Citation: Regina v Moran [1999] NSWCCA 169
Court: NSW Court of Criminal Appeal
Date: 28 June 1999
Judge(s): Grove J, Abadee J, Barr J
Background
The appellant was convicted in the District Court of attempting to pervert the course of justice, contrary to s 319 of the Crimes Act, following a jury trial before Graham DCJ. The offence carries a maximum penalty of 14 years penal servitude. He was sentenced to a fixed term of two years penal servitude, to be served cumulatively upon an existing periodic detention sentence.
The case arose from a search of the appellant's property by National Crime Authority officers in March 1994, during which a new Daiwa golf bag was found in the ceiling space of his garage. The appellant was charged with goods in custody. When asked about the bag at the time, he told investigators he had purchased it but had no receipt.
Nearly two years later, in February 1996, investigators invited the appellant to produce any relevant receipts. He produced a receipt purportedly from the Beaver Creek Golf Shop, dated 14 September 1993. The Crown's case was that this receipt was fabricated: evidence from a printing company established that receipts in that form could not have existed before May 1994 at the earliest.
Legal Issues
- Whether a misdirection or non-direction by the trial judge on questions of fact constituted an error of law warranting a new trial
- Whether the Crown's failure to tender a particular document, or present certain evidence, constituted a miscarriage of justice
- Whether the trial judge erred in permitting the Crown to address the jury on matters not properly in evidence
- Whether the verdict was unsafe and unsatisfactory in that the evidence did not support the jury's finding of guilt beyond reasonable doubt
Decision
The Court addressed each of the four grounds of appeal and rejected all of them. On the first three grounds, Abadee J found no error on the part of the trial judge that would have given rise to a miscarriage of justice. The court found that the jury received adequate directions and that the Crown's conduct of the trial did not constitute any relevant procedural irregularity.
On the fourth and principal ground, the court applied the standard from M v The Queen (1994) 181 CLR 487 and Jones v The Queen (1997) 72 ALJR 78. Abadee J conducted an independent assessment of the evidence and concluded that no relevant doubt arose as to the safety of the verdict.
Central to the Crown case was evidence from a printing company representative that the receipt produced by the appellant, bearing a date of 14 September 1993, came from a batch of stationery not printed until 25 July 1994 and first delivered in May 1994. The former owners of the Beaver Creek Golf Shop did not recognise the receipt or the signature on it, and evidence indicated the shop did not stock Daiwa products. The appellant's explanation, that he had obtained the receipt from a sales assistant in September 1994 as a replacement for a lost original, was available to the jury to assess.
Abadee J concluded that the jury, having seen and heard the appellant give evidence, was entitled to reject his version of events. Grove J and Barr J agreed with Abadee J's reasons without addition.
Orders Made
- The appeal against conviction is dismissed.
Key Takeaways
- In dismissing the appeal, the Court of Criminal Appeal confirmed that a jury's verdict will not be disturbed on the ground that it is unsafe or unsatisfactory unless an independent review of the evidence gives rise to a doubt as to guilt, applying the test in M v The Queen (1994) 181 CLR 487.
- The offence of attempting to pervert the course of justice under s 319 of the Crimes Act encompasses the production of a fabricated document to investigators, where that document was intended to obstruct or deflect an ongoing investigation.
- No error was established in the trial judge's directions simply because the precise characterisation of a piece of physical evidence, in this case whether the golf bag was new or second-hand, was left to the jury to determine on the available evidence including photographs and oral testimony.
- Physical and documentary evidence disproving the existence of a receipt at the time it purportedly bore, combined with evidence about the supplier's stock and the receipt's provenance, can provide a sufficient basis for a jury to find guilt beyond reasonable doubt on an attempt to pervert the course of justice charge.
- A jury is regarded as particularly well placed to assess the credibility of a defendant who gives evidence, and the court will be slow to interfere with findings that rest substantially on that assessment.
Legislation and Cases Referenced
Legislation:
- Crimes Act (NSW), s 319 (attempting to pervert the course of justice)
- Criminal Appeal Act (NSW), s 6
Cases:
- Regina v Reeves (1992) 29 NSWLR 109
- M v The Queen (1994) 181 CLR 487
- Jones v The Queen (1997) 72 ALJR 78