Edwards v. The Queen

Lower Court Judgment

03/04/2020 Supreme Court of New South Wales (Court of Criminal Appeal) (Leeming JA, Johnson & Harrison JJ)

[2020] NSWCCA 57

Catchwords

Criminal law – Prosecution’s duty of disclosure – Unreasonable verdict – Where applicant charged with sexual offences against child – Where applicant’s mobile phone seized and contents downloaded – Where prosecution disclosed existence of download and offered to provide applicant with copy of downloaded data – Where data was not provided to applicant – Where prosecution did not disclose relevance of download data – Where prosecution case on two counts relied on evidence of complainant – Where defence case on same counts relied on documentary evidence contradicting complainant’s evidence – Where NSW Court of Criminal Appeal (“CCA”) dismissed appeal against conviction –Whether prosecutor breached duty of disclosure by not providing download data to applicant, contrary to s 142 of Criminal Procedure Act 1987 (NSW) – Whether CCA erred in concluding verdicts on two counts not unreasonable as there remained reasonable doubt as to existence of opportunity for offending to have occurred.