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The Court of First Instance dismissed a magistracy appeal against an indecent assault conviction, upholding the magistrate’s credibility findings and sentence.
The application for a s32 certificate is refused because the applicant simply reasserts factual disputes and sentencing complaints that do not raise a point of law of great and general importance under s32(2); the substitution to common assault and the unchanged 14‑day sentence do not present a legal issue warranting certification.
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The Court was not satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the appellant had the requisite indecent intent for indecent assault though the CCTV and contextual factors proved an unlawful intentional touching; accordingly the indecent assault conviction was quashed and substituted with a conviction for common assault under the court's statutory substitution power, with the original sentence of 14 days' imprisonment left unchanged.
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Leave to appeal against sentence was refused in a child indecent assault case. The Court held the 3 years 6 months’ sentence was not manifestly excessive or wrong in principle.
On rehearing the court found that, having critically examined the totality of evidence including complainant's conduct at the scene, the content of the recent complaint to PW2 and the accused's evidence about post‑production, there remained reasonable doubt as to whether the alleged forcible pulling down of the dress occurred; the trial judge's rejection of defence explanations (notably regarding photo editing) was unduly harsh and the conviction could not be upheld beyond reasonable doubt; appeal allowed and conviction quashed.
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The Court of Appeal held that the trial judge correctly found the CCTV exhibits authentic and sufficient to support conviction for count 2 after assessing working copies, original media and screenshots; the judge properly exercised discretion to exclude parts of the recorded interviews where there was a real risk of unfairness given the defendant's apparent wish to remain silent. However, the trial judge failed to adequately analyse the CCTV evidence on counts 3 and 4 and thus the acquittals were unsafe; the acquittals were set aside and those counts were remitted for trial before another Dis…
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The High Court dismissed a magistracy appeal against an indecent assault conviction, finding the complainant’s evidence credible and any inconsistencies immaterial.
On a full re‑hearing the court accepted the complainant's evidence as honest and reliable, found the appellant's account confused and unreliable (particularly about the 'wash mouth' documentation), held the alleged bad behaviour was not treated as similar‑fact evidence and was not pivotal, accepted that distress/post‑incident conduct was not relied on as corroboration, found no inherent impossibility in the complainant's account, and concluded the prosecution proved both counts of indecent assault beyond reasonable doubt; the appeal was dismissed and convictions and sentence affirmed.
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Leave to appeal was granted in a criminal case involving indecent assault and criminal intimidation, after concerns about corroboration, identification, and sentencing arose.
Count one conviction quashed because identification of the shop offender as appellant was not proven beyond reasonable doubt given masked appearance, lack of distinctive features and unreliable identification procedure; count two conviction upheld because PW2's credible immediate reaction, corroborating CCTV footage and factual findings proved deliberate touching with requisite intent beyond reasonable doubt.
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