Sio v. The Queen

Lower Court Judgment

31/03/2015 Supreme Court of New South Wales (Court of Criminal Appeal) (Leeming JA, Johnson J, Schmidt J)

[2015] NSWCCA 42

Catchwords

Criminal law – conviction appeal – armed robbery – joint criminal enterprise – unreasonable verdict – where appellant was acquitted of constructive murder based on the appellant’s participation in a joint criminal enterprise to commit armed robbery – where appellant was convicted of armed robbery with wounding – whether appellant’s conviction on alternative count is inconsistent with acquittal on principle count.

Criminal law – evidence – hearsay rule – accomplice – made admission against interest in police interview – accomplice not available - whether the trial judge was required to take into account the “demonstrable unreliability” of individual representations to determine whether interview was “made in circumstance that made it likely the representation was reliable”.

Short Particulars