29 Oct 1998
Although the trial judge erred in not holding a voir dire to determine the voluntariness of the alleged oral admission, the Court of Appeal was satisfied on the whole of the evidence and the judge's findings accepting the police testimony that the irregularity did not cause a miscarriage of justice; accordingly the proviso is applied and the conviction and sentence are upheld.
19 Dec 1997
Any putative misdirection did not result in a miscarriage of justice because the judge made clear that proof was to be assessed on the whole of the evidence and the only reasonable inference from the very large quantity of drugs was possession for the purpose of trafficking; accordingly leave to appeal was granted but the appeal was dismissed and the conviction and 23-year sentence were upheld.
5 Aug 1997
The trial judge erred in admitting inadmissible hearsay (Mak's statements to PW2 and unproven provenance of P7), but on reviewing the admissible evidence (admissions by the appellant, receipt of six cheques from a customer, lack of authority to receive such money and no return of funds) the Court concluded the admissible evidence overwhelmingly supported conviction and applied the proviso to dismiss the appeal and affirm convictions and sentence.
10 Jul 1986
The convictions of D.1 were quashed because the trial judge's lengthy and hostile interventions at the end of D.1's evidence improperly invited the jury to disbelieve the defence, rendering the verdicts unsafe; a retrial was ordered but limited by s83E(2) CPO to the offence of manslaughter (the offence of conviction) and not murder; the tired-jury complaints of D.2 and D.5 failed on the facts and their appeals were dismissed; D.3's discharge of counsel did not justify interruption of the trial and his appeal was dismissed; the judge erred in excluding evidence of prior identification of D.5 r…
31 Dec 1985
Although the trial judge erred by applying a subjective test for 'menaces', the words used by the appellant and the context objectively amounted to an unwarranted demand with menaces and supported a finding of a view to gain; applying the appellate proviso the error did not cause a miscarriage of justice and the conviction is upheld.
29 Mar 1984
Although the trial judge misdirected the jury on count 2 by focusing on knowledge of theft (a direction appropriate to handling), the jury rejected the appellant's explanations and the circumstances (recent possession and pawning on same day using his identity) supported an inference of participation; the misdirection did not render the conviction unsafe and the proviso was applied; count 5 was sustained on strong identification and admissions.