The appeal in Foster v Harris [2012] VSC 637 considered technical arguments about a speeding charge. It was handed down just before Christmas.There were two broad issues:1) did the charge information contain sufficient information; and 2) did the certificate of testing of the prescribed device comply with the regulations, making it admissible.The magistrate determined both …
Continue reading Foster v Harris [2012] VSC 637: technical challenges to speeding offences
Last week I wrote about an unrepresented appellant who challenged a fundamental principle of sentencing in the County Court. While I've previously warned of the serious disadvantage that unrepresented litigants place themselves at, they do occasionally bring a fresh perspective to issues that normally get taken for granted. This doesn't always work out for the …
Last month the Supreme Court delivered its judgment in another drink-drive decision, DPP v Novakovic [2012] VSC 397. (The judgment only popped up on Austlii recently, which spurred me to get around to this post.)This case dealt with a charge of refusing to permit a blood sample to be taken following two attempts to obtain a breath …
Continue reading DPP v Novakovic [2012] VSC 397: blood refusals, doctors and that three-hour thing
Section 367 of the Criminal Procedure Act 2009 provides that367. Use of recorded evidence-in-chiefA witness may give evidence-in-chief (wholly or partly) in the form of an audio or audiovisual recording of the witness answering questions put to him or her by a person prescribed by the regulations for the purposes of this section.The regulations referred …
Continue reading RWS v The Queen [2012] VSCA 249: unauthorised questioners
Cultivation is a term that is frequently used when referring to the growing of cannabis plants. In general terms, what amounts to cultivation is a question of fact for a jury. However, there is also the threshold question of whether an act or series of acts is capable of amounting to cultivation at law.Section 70 …
Continue reading Grozdanov v The Queen [2012] VSCA 94: the meaning of cultivate