Home >> Current Issues
Volume No - 18 Issue No - 13
The Crown submissions appropriately acknowledge the attempts by Mr Hall, his family, advocates, and supporters over a long period of time to obtain justice. The effect of the passage of time on the availability of records and persons with knowledge of what went on at the time together with the importance of determining this appeal without any further delays means we are not in a position to determine exactly what happened in relation to some of the matters raised. But we can confirm the lamentable fact, as the Crown accepts, that significant parts of the criminal justice process have failed Mr Hall with seriously adverse consequences for him. In these circumstances, where evidence before the jury omitted a critical fact, disclosure obligations were not met, and key statements made by Mr Hall should not have been before the jury, it is in the interests of justice to direct verdicts of acquittal.