19 Nov 2021
The appellant performed acts more than merely preparatory to obtaining property by deception (presenting a card registered to his sister, falsely stating it was his and in his name, signing the sales slip) and those acts, coupled with his admissions and prior failed attempts, established subjective dishonesty under the Ghosh test; therefore the conviction and sentence were upheld.
7 Oct 2021
Although objective facts showed a close link between the appellant and the parcel (name/address match and multiple telephone calls from the airwaybill number), the prosecution did not prove that the appellant participated in importing the drugs; the evidence did not permit the unique and irresistible inference that he was involved in the importation, and the acts proved did not go beyond mere preparation so as to sustain a conviction or permit substitution to attempt. Therefore the conviction was unsafe and must be quashed.
7 Jun 2021
The court held that on the evidence no reasonable jury properly directed could safely convict: the prosecution failed to prove acts more than merely preparatory or to establish intent to traffic on a joint enterprise basis, so the judge must withdraw the case from the jury (no case to answer).
1 Sept 2020
The Court held that the objective circumstances (night loading of black-wrapped pallets onto speedboats very close to the border, observed operation of the crane by the applicant, the lack of manifest) were acts more than merely preparatory and permitted only the irresistible inference that the applicant intended to export the goods; the judge was entitled to reject the applicant’s cautioned statement and to refuse leave to appeal.
20 Feb 2019
The applicant’s utterance 'to deal with coke' was, in context, unequivocally a reference to cocaine and did not require special Zhou Limei directions; the substantive offence of trafficking was not made out because the controlled delivery prevented completion, but the jury’s verdict showed they accepted the applicant intended and took steps beyond mere preparation so the court, exercising its s83A power, properly substituted a conviction for attempted trafficking and imposed the same 21 year sentence.
22 Jun 2018
On the evidence (CCTV footage, still photographs, admissions in the VRI, recovery of bank cards and e-banking device and police identification), the magistrate was entitled to find identity proved and to infer at least reasonable grounds to believe that the amounts represented proceeds of indictable offences; accordingly the 1st appellant's convictions were safe and were dismissed. By contrast, the 2nd appellant's convictions were quashed because the trial magistrate expressly rejected her exculpatory statements in the VRI as untrue and, having done so, the appellate court could not regard th…
24 Mar 2017
Hostility is not an essential element of non-physical contact indecent assault; on the facts the magistrate was entitled to find from the video and other evidence that the appellant intended his exposed penis to be seen and to cause the complainant to apprehend immediate unlawful violence and that his acts were more than merely preparatory; conviction is safe and upheld.
6 Nov 2012
The court held that the admitted facts and the solicitor's concession established that the applicant presented herself at a departure point with the intent to export the drugs; possession for the purpose of trafficking was therefore established and the acts were more than merely preparatory so as to constitute an attempt; accordingly the guilty plea to trafficking stood and the sentence was not excessive.
2 Nov 2011
Where an offender believes a substance to be a dangerous drug the moral culpability is equivalent to actual trafficking; sentencing should start from the sentence appropriate to trafficking in the drug believed by the offender and may be reduced to reflect the absence of actual harm, but s.4 covers acts preparatory to trafficking in a substance believed to be a drug and justifies substantial custodial sentences; therefore a four-year sentence was not excessive and the appeal fails.
28 Jan 2011
On analysis of all evidence, the issue of whether the appellant believed the undercover officers were prostitutes did not arise; therefore the judge was not required to address that issue and the convictions for attempted procuring were upheld; appeal dismissed.