Criminal law: August 2024

Davis v R [2024] NSWCCA 120

Sexual assault – cross-examination

In this decision, the Court of Criminal Appeal (‘CCA’) considered common arguments which, though they might have currency in non-sexual offending, are of dubious relevance or validity in the context of child sex matters. They have, however, offered some morsels of comfort for practitioners who find themselves, on instructions, obliged to poke holes in only peripheral areas of the case.

A jury convicted the applicant of sexual offences against a child: the applicant, aged 34 to 35, was alleged to have befriended an indigenous boy of 14 or 15 years, and sexually assaulted him on three occasions during visits by the boy to the applicant’s farm. The applicant conceded that he’d taken the boy to the farm to fish, ride motorbikes and hunt but denied any sexual contact. The jury acquitted the applicant of two other offences of aggravated sexual assault. The complainant’s allegations came out over a number of interactions, first to the complainant’s girlfriend, then over several conversations with police, and finally in evidence. Following the guilty verdicts, the applicant challenged his convictions on grounds including the complainant’s credibility was so damaged that the verdicts were unreasonable.