The defendants appealed their convictions for murder, saying that a co-defendant, have been captured after fleeing the country had later been treated more leniently, a plea of manslaughter having been accepted. Held: In order to substitute convictions for manslaughter, the court would first have to quash the convictions for murder, which was only possible if … Continue reading Petch and Coleman v Regina: CACD 13 Jul 2005

After retirement, the jury requested, and was inadvertently supplied with a copy of a statement made by a witness to the police. The statement had been used by defence counsel for the purposes of cross-examination, but the document itself had not been exhibited. Held: The court questioned the absolute nature of the observation that a … Continue reading Regina v Davis (George): CACD 1976