The offences at 83A of the Crimes Act 1958 can be committed in a variety of different ways, though the most common forms allege either the making of a false document or the use of a false document.Charges of making and using a false document are distinct and punishment on both is not double jeopardy: …
Month: July 2010
The contents of Victim Impact Statements
Edit: Events in the Supreme Court last week show that there will be stumbles during attempts to involve victims in the sentencing process. Perhaps some of the flexibility recommended by the Court of Appeal in Hester's case might have helped.Last Friday's post about cutting-and-pasting interviews got me thinking about Victim Impact Statements, another document tendered …
Salt v Godenzi & Anor: the final days of proper venue?
With the introduction of the Criminal Procedure Act 2009 the phrase proper venue is soon to become obsolete.The phrase comes with several decades of jurisprudence attached to it. The new Act deliberately avoids using it in s 11.One of the last cases that will consider it is Salt v Godenzi & Anor [2010] VSC 259. …
Continue reading Salt v Godenzi & Anor: the final days of proper venue?
Salt v Godenzi & Anor: the final days of proper venue?
With the introduction of the Criminal Procedure Act 2009 the phrase proper venue is soon to become obsolete.The phrase comes with several decades of jurisprudence attached to it. The new Act deliberately avoids using it in s 11.One of the last cases that will consider it is Salt v Godenzi & Anor [2010] VSC 259. …
Continue reading Salt v Godenzi & Anor: the final days of proper venue?
Brain v The Queen [2010] VSCA 172: cutting and pasting the interview
Section 89 of the Evidence Act prevents evidence of silence being used to infer guilt. If evidence can only serve that purpose it is not admissible.(As Jeremy Gans commented on my related post last year, this includes silence by any person, not just the accused, in response to an investigating official. It's possible to think …
Continue reading Brain v The Queen [2010] VSCA 172: cutting and pasting the interview