Criminal Case
Case: R v Gittany
Facts: Lisa Cecilia Harnum’s body fell from her shared high-rise apartment in the Sydney CBD minutes after trying to leave her abusive fiancé Simon Gittany. Gittany has had a dark past being associated with violence, drugs, having an uncontrollable temper and committing several criminal offences which included biting off parts of a policemen’s ear and selling cocaine. Gittany claims Harnum either slipped or deliberately fell to her death. Gittany had ‘bugged’ Harnum’s cell phone reading all her text messages and emails as well as listening to all her calls. When he discovered his fiancé was seeing a councillor he physically threatened her that if she saw his fiancé again he will “harm [her].” The day of Harnum’s …show more content…
Judgements:
Trial: At the commencement of the trial, Gordon had succussed in the appeal.
Supreme Court: All the judges on the appeal during the trial at the Supreme Court of Queensland declared Macgregor to be not guilty.
High Court: At the commencement of the trial in the High Court, Chief Justice Griffith denied the appeal. Judge O’Connor and Judge Isaacs all agreed with Chief Justice’s decision.
Why?:
Trial: The trial judge discovered that there was an agreement between the parties which expressed that the delivery should not commence for a period of three months. The judge also expressed the discovery of an oral arrangement regarding the minimum girth of logs.
Supreme Court: All judges on the appeal could not find evidence to support the trial judge’s findings that there was an oral arrangement regarding the delivery and minimum girth of logs.
High Court: The judges in the High Court denied the appeal as Gordon could only uphold his position in court by presenting the judges with the written document. The High Court could not find evidence which demonstrated Gordon’s claim. The High Court agreed with the Supreme Court that there is no evidence to support the trial judge’s