Cooper v R [2012] HCA 50: Sufficiency of Evidence for Murder

In the case of Bradley Douglas Cooper v The Queen [2012] HCA 50 handed down today (14 November 2012) the majority of the High Court of Australia has allowed an appeal by Cooper against a decision of the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal to uphold his conviction for murder.

Background

Where the appellant had been charged with murder the post-mortem examination had shown that the deceased had suffered four wounds to the head.

The prosecution at trial presented two alternatives alleging that:

• either the appellant alone hit and killed the deceased; or,

• the appellant's partner struck and killed the deceased as part of a joint criminal enterprise with the appellant.

As a result the appellant was convicted of murder. On appeal the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal held that there had been an error in the trial because there was no evidence of a joint criminal enterprise and it followed the jury should not have been directed to consider that alternative case.  The Court of Criminal Appeal however upheld the conviction on the basis that the error had not result in a "substantial miscarriage of justice" as per the Criminal Appeal Act 1912 (NSW) s 6(1) of the. 

Special leave was grant to appealed to the High Court.

Result

The appeal was allowed with the majority concluding that based on the evidence admitted at trial, an appellate court could not be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that only one weapon had been used or that the appellant struck the blow which caused the deceased's death.  The appellate court could not be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the appellant was guilty of murder. 

The High Court quashed the appellant's conviction and retrial has been ordered.