HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA FRENCH CJ, KIEFEL, BELL, KEANE AND GORDON JJ THE QUEEN AND GERARD ROBERT BADEN-CLAY The Queen v Baden-Clay [2016] HCA 35 31 August 2016 B33/2016 ORDER 1. Appeal allowed. APPELLANT RESPONDENT 2. Set aside orders 1 and 2 of the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Queensland made on 8 December 2015, and in their place order that the appeal to that Court be dismissed. On appeal from the Supreme Court of Queensland Representation W Sofronoff QC with D C Boyle and S J Hedge for the appellant (instructed by Director of Public Prosecutions (Qld)) M J Byrne QC with M J Copley QC for the respondent (instructed by Peter Shields Lawyers) Notice: This copy of the Court's Reasons for Judgment is subject to formal revision prior to publication in the Commonwealth Law Reports.
CATCHWORDS The Queen v Baden-Clay Criminal law - Criminal liability - Where respondent's wife disappeared and body later found - Where respondent involved in sexual affair with another woman - Where some injuries to respondent's cheek likely caused by fingernails - Where respondent gave evidence at trial denying involvement in killing wife and disposing of body - Where jury convicted respondent of murder - Where Court of Appeal held hypothesis of unintentional killing not excluded by prosecution and substituted verdict of manslaughter - Where common ground on appeal that respondent killed his wife - Whether hypothesis consistent with innocence of murder open - Whether jury's verdict unreasonable - Whether jury entitled to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that respondent acted with intent to kill or cause grievous bodily harm when he killed his wife. Words and phrases - "circumstantial evidence", "hypothesis consistent with innocence", "intention", "intractably neutral", "lies", "motive", "post-offence conduct", "role of the jury", "unreasonable verdict", "whole of the evidence". Criminal Code (Q), s 668E(1)