An Admission Made by the Appellant After Conviction
47The conclusion reached with respect to the appeal against conviction leaves it unnecessary to determine a further issue which was raised at the hearing of the appeal. However, as the issue was argued, it is useful to record the controversy, and some factors which may bear upon its resolution, in case a situation such as this occurs in another case.
48After conviction, the Appellant's legal representatives arranged for him to be examined by Dr Richard Furst, forensic psychiatrist, for the purpose of the preparation of a report on sentence. Dr Furst interviewed the Appellant at the Parklea Correctional Centre on 12 March 2010. In the course of the interview, Dr Furst asked the Appellant about the offences of which he was convicted. Dr Furst's report dated 16 April 2010 records the following with respect to the first count:
"I asked Mr Raumakita about the offences he was recently convicted of. He said that on 13/08/07 he had used both 'ice' (about $50 worth) and cannabis (about 1 gram) prior to the offence. He said that he participated in the robbery 'to get money to buy drugs...and because I needed money to get by.' He told me that he had entered Australia on a Tourist Visa and did not have permission to work or claim Centrelink benefits. He said that he had to rely on his family for financial support, which made him feel stressed and low in mood at times. He attributed his use of 'ice' to the stress he would feel at times."
49According to Dr Furst, a separate admission was made by the Appellant concerning the second count.
50Dr Furst's report was tendered by the Appellant's counsel on sentence in the District Court and was referred to in the remarks on sentence of the sentencing Judge (at pages 8-13). The Appellant did not give evidence in the sentencing proceedings.
51The Crown sought to read an affidavit of Dr Furst sworn 17 May 2011 before this Court, relying upon s.12(c) Criminal Appeal Act 1912 . The affidavit annexed the report dated 16 April 2010 and confirmed that the Appellant had given him the account of the offence of 13 August 2007 as set out above. Objection was taken to the affidavit on the ground of relevance.
52The Crown submitted that this Court should have regard to the alleged admission by the Appellant in the event that the Appellant succeeded in his unreasonable verdict ground, with the evidence bearing upon one or other of the following issues:
(a) the application of the proviso under s.6(1) Criminal Appeal Act 1912 , with the Court concluding that, taking into account the alleged admission, no substantial miscarriage of justice had actually occurred so that the appeal ought be dismissed, or
(b) in determining to order a new trial under s.8 Criminal Appeal Act 1912 , rather than direct the acquittal of the Appellant under s.6(2) of that Act.
53The Court was taken to a number of decisions where it was said that, after conviction by a jury, an appellant had confessed his guilt (in one way or another) prior to the hearing of an appeal against conviction: R v De-Cressac (1985) 1 NSWLR 381; R v Reid (NSWCCA, 13 September 1993, unreported); R v McCarthy and Ryan (1993) 71 A Crim R 395; R v Gudgeon (1995) 83 A Crim R 228; R v Bikic [2001] NSWCCA 537 and Cesan v The Queen [2008] HCA 52; 236 CLR 358.
54If the point has been reached at the hearing of the present appeal, it would have been necessary to determine whether a post-conviction admission made prior to appeal may be taken into account by this Court in applying the s.6(1) proviso, so as to dismiss the appeal despite relevant error having been demonstrated at trial. The decision of this Court in R v De-Cressac would suggest, at the very least, that this Court would approach such a submission with considerable caution. This may be especially so if there was said to be a contest as to whether the admission was made. Here, it would seem that any contest would lie in the truthfulness of the admission, rather than the fact that it was made.
55Consideration of the s.6(1) proviso directs attention to the evidence that was before the jury at trial: Cesan v The Queen at 393-395 [123]-[129].
56The following statements of Hayne, Crennan and Kiefel JJ (Heydon J agreeing) in Cesan v The Queen at 395-396 [131] would also stand in the way of the Crown submission concerning the use of the proviso:
"Finally, some weight was given by the majority in the Court of Criminal Appeal to a letter written by Mr Cesan to the trial judge after the jury had returned a guilty verdict and before sentence was passed. The majority in the Court of Criminal Appeal considered that, in the letter, he admitted his guilt of the offence charged. The letter was written for the evident purpose of mitigating the sentence that was then to be passed upon Mr Cesan. To do other than accept the jury's verdict would have aggravated the sentence. No weight can be attached to what was said in the letter in deciding whether there was no substantial miscarriage of justice."
57Before this Court, the Crown submitted respectfully (but with some justification) that the statement that to "do other than accept the jury's verdict would have aggravated the sentence" did not appear to conform with the principle that an accused person who contests the trial, whilst not entitled to mitigation for a plea of guilty, may not be penalised for the manner in which the defence was conducted: Siganto v The Queen [1998] HCA 74; 194 CLR 656 at 666-667 [30]-[34].
58If this Court considers that a miscarriage of justice has occurred following conviction on indictment and the conviction is to be quashed, the Court may order a new trial where, having regard to all the circumstances, such miscarriage of justice can be more adequately remedied by an order for a new trial: s.6(2); s.8(1) Criminal Appeal Act 1912 .
59Section 8(1) provides for the Court to have regard to "all the circumstances" , a phrase of considerable breadth. In The Queen v Taufahema [2007] HCA 11; 228 CLR 232 at 254 [49], Gummow, Hayne and Crennan JJ observed that one of the key "circumstances" referred to in s.8(1), and one of the key factors in assessing whether a new trial is an adequate remedy, is the public interest in the due prosecution and conviction of offenders. Their Honours observed, at 255 [51], in the context of that case, that an order for acquittal conflicted with the desirability of having the guilt or innocence of the accused person finally determined by a jury .
60However, a little later, their Honours referred, at 256 [52], to the undesirability of the prosecution having an opportunity to present a new case at a retrial where the evidence had been insufficient at the first trial.
61In an appropriate case, it may be considered relevant that the common law principle of finality of a jury verdict of acquittal has been altered to some extent by statute in this State in recent years. Section 107 Crimes (Appeal and Review) Act 2001 now permits the Crown to appeal from a directed acquittal on a ground that involves a question of law alone: R v JS [2007] NSWCCA 272; 175 A Crim R 108; R v PL [2009] NSWCCA 256; 261 ALR 265.
62Further, Division 2 of Part 8 of the Crimes (Appeal and Review) Act 2001 (ss.99-106) permits the Crown, in an appropriate case, to apply to this Court for an order for retrial of a person following acquittal for an offence punishable by life imprisonment (which, of course, is not this case). Although these provisions have not been utilised as yet in this State, equivalent provisions have been applied in the United Kingdom, including cases where a post-acquittal admission is said to have been made: R v D [2006] EWCA Crim 1354; R v Miell [2007] EWCA Crim 3130; Hamer, "The Expectation of Incorrect Acquittals and the 'New and Compelling Evidence' Exception to Double Jeopardy" [2009] Crim LR 63 at 72-73.
63In these ways, the law has changed in its approach to the finality of a verdict of acquittal following criminal trial by jury. What relevance (if any) such considerations may have to the application of ss.6(1), 6(2) and 8 Criminal Appeal Act 1912 will be for this Court to consider in another case on a future day.
64As it happens, it is not necessary for this Court to consider these questions in the context of the present appeal. The Appellant has not cleared the first hurdle, in that he has not demonstrated that a miscarriage of justice occurred at trial. He has not demonstrated that the verdict on the first count was unreasonable or cannot be supported having regard to the evidence.