(a) Photographs and video recordings of the complainant in the appellant's possession
13The Crown tendered at the trial two compact discs which the appellant had given to the complainant's mother. They contained photographs, and video footage, of scenery, people unrelated to the trial, animals, the appellant and a large number of photographs of the complainant, many whilst he was dressed only in boxer shorts or a swimming costume. The photos and footage were taken by the appellant, or under his direction.
14After the complainant's mother had produced the CDs to the Court, the Crown Prosecutor asked her what, in general terms, she had seen on them. She responded:
"Lots of photos of him [the complainant] with like only his cossies on and just of his body and not his head".
15In cross-examination the Crown Prosecutor put to the appellant that he took photos of the complainant partially clothed that focused on his body rather than his head, and he played a segment of the video footage which he suggested to the appellant panned down the complainant's body, seeming "to focus momentarily on his crotch area". The appellant responded that the camera "just happened to be stopped at that point in time".
16In his closing address the Crown Prosecutor quoted the evidence of the complainant's mother referred to above and put that:
"[W]hen one looks, for instance, at the thumbnail photographs [hard copy photographs taken from the CDs], one might wonder whether they are the sorts of photographs that would appear in a family album".
17He also put that there was reason to wonder whether the relationship of the appellant and complainant was "a father/son relationship in any genuine sense".
18In the course of his Summing-Up, the trial judge said:
"[The Crown Prosecutor] asked you to look at the images in exhibit B [the CDs] very closely, and said they are not the kind found in a family album, and in particular drew attention to one of the videos I think it was in which he stated there was a concentration of the camera on the crutch of the complainant. Now that is my paraphrase of the argument put by him. You will have the video. If you think that is a correct submission you will act up on [sic] it. If, on the other hand, you think it is not that is a decision making fact finding process for you and you alone".
19On appeal the appellant submitted that the CDs were not relevant except to show sexual interest of the appellant in the complainant and that the evidence therefore amounted to tendency evidence which was inadmissible, in the absence, as was the case, of compliance with s 97 of the Evidence Act 1995 (see also s 101).
20In response the Crown submitted that the evidence was admissible as context evidence to provide, for example, independent support for the complainant's evidence of the types of recreational activities that he enjoyed with the appellant, and that the evidence did not suggest any sexual interest of the appellant in the complainant. The Crown implicitly accepted that if the evidence did in fact suggest the existence of such a sexual interest, compliance with ss 97 and 101 would have been required, or the trial judge would have had to direct the jury that it could not use the evidence to draw an inference of such sexual interest, that is, not to use it for a tendency purpose. No such direction was given, or sought, at the trial.
21Where the impugned evidence is that an accused, on an occasion prior to that of the alleged offence, had a sexual interest in a child complainant and acted upon that interest, the need for a tendency direction is readily apparent. If such evidence is admitted simply because it provides context to the complainant's evidence (and not as a result of compliance with ss 97 and 101 of the Evidence Act), the jury must be directed not to use it to reason that because the accused has engaged in such conduct on a prior occasion he or she is the more likely to have engaged in it on the occasion the subject of the charge.
22The courts have however gone further and treated evidence of an accused's sexual interest in, at least, a child complainant as being tendency evidence subject to the strictures of ss 97 and 101 of the Evidence Act even when the evidence does not suggest that the accused had previously committed an unlawful sexual act in relation to the child (R v AH (1999) 42 NSWLR 702 at 708 - 9; Qualtieri v R [2006] NSWCCA 95; 171 A Crim R 462 at [87]; DJV v R [2008] NSWCCA 272; 200 A Crim R 206 at [30] and [39]; ES v R (No 1) [2010] NSWCCA 197 at [38] - [40]; ES v R (No 2) [2010] NSWCCA 198 at [67]; RWC v R [2010] NSWCCA 332 at [126] - [128]; BBH v R [2012] HCA 9; 245 CLR 499 at [152]; Steadman v R (No 1) [2013] NSWCCA 55 at [10]). Whilst I have some misgivings as to whether evidence which is in effect no more than evidence of motive (because it is simply evidence of a sexual interest of the accused in the complainant which has not been acted upon) should be treated as tendency evidence, the Court must accept the existing approach, at least where, as here, there has been no specific challenge to it.
23I turn then to the question of whether the evidence on the CDs was capable of suggesting a sexual interest of the appellant in the complainant and whether the jury was invited to use it for that purpose.
24Neither of the parties invited this Court to view the material on the CDs which were not in any event provided to the Court. In evidence however were some 123 small ("thumbnail") photographs (Exhibit Y; duplicated to some extent in Exhibit C) representing images on the CDs. It is not clear whether they comprise all the still photographs on the CDs.
25Many of the photographs were admissible for the context purpose described by the Crown in that they show the complainant engaging, by inference in the company of the appellant, in obviously enjoyable outdoor activities such as canoeing, fishing and horse riding. They thus support the complainant's evidence about the context in which the alleged offences were committed and assist in understanding why the complainant associated with the appellant. However many of the photos did not serve this purpose. These comprised close-up photographs of the complainant wearing only boxer shorts or a swimming costume, with many photos of his body, some showing his body but only part of his head. The evidence elicited by the Crown Prosecutor from the complainant's mother (see [14] above) emphasised to the jury this character of the photos, as did the cross-examination by the Crown Prosecutor of the appellant (see [15] above).
26The Crown Prosecutor's cross-examination concerning a segment of the video footage on the CDs similarly drew attention to the focus of the appellant, as the camera operator, on the complainant's body, including his crutch. This was well capable of carrying the implication that the appellant's interest in the complainant was of a sexual nature. The same implication arose out of the Crown Prosecutor's reference in closing address to the complainant's mother's evidence concerning the CDs and his assertions concerning the nature of the relationship between the appellant and complainant (see [16] and [17] above).
27A similar approach to the CDs was evident in the trial judge's Summing-Up with its reference to the jury looking "very closely" at the images on the discs and to the question of whether in the video footage the camera lingered on the complainant's crutch (see [18] above). In this context, the trial judge's indication to the jury that if it accepted the Crown's argument concerning the video footage, it would "act up on it" [sic] was plainly an invitation to the jury to form a view as to whether the footage indicated a sexual interest of the appellant in the complainant and, if it concluded that it did, to take that into account in deciding whether the Crown had proved beyond reasonable doubt that the appellant committed the offences charged.
28For the reasons I have given earlier, this invited the jury to engage in impermissible tendency reasoning.
29In these circumstances, the photographs and film should not have been admitted into evidence, except to the extent that they were reasonably necessary to provide support for the complainant's evidence concerning the context in which the alleged offences were committed. Moreover, the evidence having in fact been admitted, the jury should not have been invited, expressly or impliedly, to use it as tendency evidence. Rather, directions not to so use it should have been given as there was a real risk that the jury might otherwise embark upon impermissible tendency reasoning (see Toalepai v R [2009] NSWCCA 270 at [49]). Whether those directions would have been sufficient to overcome the prejudice to the appellant from admission of the evidence need not be considered as no such directions were given.
30No relevant objection was taken on behalf of the appellant at the trial, but nonetheless leave under r 4 of the Criminal Appeal Rules should be given as the impermissible admission and use of this evidence was a significant feature of the trial, without which it is realistically possible that the outcome of the trial might have been different (R v Wilson [2005] NSWCCA 20; 62 NSWLR 346 see [20] - [21]). For the same reason, the proviso to s 6(1) of the Criminal Appeal Act 1912 is inapplicable: I am unable to be satisfied that no substantial miscarriage of justice has occurred. In those circumstances, the appellant's convictions should be quashed.