Criminal law – Murder – Acting in concert – Joint trial of two accused – Jury convicted one accused but unable to reach a verdict in respect of the other – Whether verdicts inconsistent such that conviction unsafe and unsatisfactory – Principles governing identification of inconsistency.
Criminal law – Complicity – Doctrine of concert – Understanding or arrangement between accused – Liability of one accused for acts performed by another – Whether dependent upon a common mental element – Whether affected by availability of a defence to, or other exculpatory feature in respect of, person performing the acts – Adequacy of trial judge's directions to jury.
Criminal law – Causation – Murder – Multiple acts contributing to death – Whether contribution of one accused sufficiently significant in own right to sustain causal link – Effect of Crimes Act 1958 (Vic), s 323 – Relevance of conduct of case.
Criminal law – Defences – "battered woman syndrome" – Whether a proper subject for expert evidence – Whether a sub-category of provocation or self‑defence, or a separate defence – Appropriateness of directions given to jury.
Criminal law – Evidence – Lies told by accused – Use to which evidence of lies may be put – Appropriate direction to be given to jury – Whether failure to direct resulted in a miscarriage of justice.
Criminal law – Evidence – Intercepted telephone conversations – Whether sufficiently probative to be admitted into evidence – Whether probative value outweighed by prejudicial effect.
R v Demirian [1989] VR 97 at 123-124, disapproved.
Crimes Act 1958 (Vic), s 323.