Brawn v. The King

Lower Court Judgment

15/09/2022 Supreme Court of South Australia (Court of Appeal) (Livesey P, Bleby and David JJA)

[2022] SASCA 96

Catchwords

Criminal practice – appeal – miscarriage of justice – prosecution duty of disclosure – where appellant found guilty of one count of maintaining sexual relationship with child – where defence case was that complainant lied about identity of abuser – where, after trial, prosecution disclosed that appellant’s father had been charged with six counts of unlawful sexual intercourse with different child – whether Court or Appeal erred in finding that breach of duty of disclosure did not lead to miscarriage of justice for purpose of s 158(1)(c) Criminal Procedure Act 1921 (SA) because appellant would not have conducted trial differently – whether Court of Appeal erred in finding appellant conceded that non-disclosure did deprive him of opportunity to adduce evidence relating to father – proper approach to ‘miscarriage of justice’ for purposes of s 158(1)(c) Criminal Procedure Act.