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Court of Appeal dismisses appeal of sexual assault conviction committed by an agency health care assistant in a hospital on a patient, on the grounds that: 1) the grounds of appeal concerning criticisms of the judge's charge in respect of admissible evidence, expert evidence and the summation of the defence case could not now be raised on appeal since they were not argued at trial; and no explanation for such has been given; and 2) there was no real risk of a fundamental injustice having been done to the appellant.
Criminal law – appeal of sexual assault conviction – s. 2 of the Criminal Law (Rape Amendment) Act, 1990 – whether the trial judge erred in failing in the course of her charge to explain the limited basis on which evidence of complaint is admissible and the limited use to which it may be put – the trial judge failed to properly charge the jury regarding the expert opinion evidence – whether the trial judge adequately summarised the case being made on behalf of the defence in the course of her charge – no explanation has been offered in this case for any of the three failures at issue – no real risk of a fundamental injustice having been done to the appellant – case a special warning or instructions was neither required nor, indeed, would one have been justified – appeal dismissed.
Note: This is intended to be a fair and accurate report of a decision made public by a court of law. Any errors should be notified to the editor and will be dealt with accordingly.
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