Dansie v The Queen

Criminal practice – Appeal – Where appellant tried and convicted of murder of wife by judge alone in Supreme Court of South Australia – Where appellant appealed conviction on ground that verdict unreasonable or could not be supported having regard to whole of evidence – Whether Full Court of Supreme Court of South Australia sitting as Court of Criminal Appeal misapplied test in M v The Queen (1994) 181 CLR 487 – Function of court of criminal appeal determining appeal against conviction on unreasonableness ground following trial by judge alone.
Words and phrases – "advantage in seeing and hearing the evidence", "circumstantial case", "function of a court of criminal appeal", "independent assessment of the evidence", "inference of guilt", "jury questions", "pathway to proof of guilt", "unreasonable verdict", "unreasonableness ground".
Criminal Procedure Act 1921 (SA), s 158(1)(a).