PLEASE LOOK AT THE DOCUMENT TITLED ESSAY PLAN; IT MUST BE FOLLOWED VERY SPECIFICALLY
In 2023, Kathleen Folbigg was acquitted of several crimes (murder, manslaughter, intentionally inflicting grievous bodily harm) after spending 20 years in prison for those convictions. The original conviction withstood many appeals and a judicial inquiry. It was only after a second inquiry, by The Honourable Thomas Bathurst AC KC, that the New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal quashed her convictions. Inculpatory diary entries appeared to play a large part in the original conviction, appeal, and the first inquiry. However, the Bathurst inquiry placed little or no weight on them. The essay will allow you to consider both the admissibility of those diary entries and related information, as well as critically reflect on the role of this type of evidence (beyond just whether such evidence is admissible, but also whether it should be admissible?).
Look at the relevant sections of the report of the Bathurst inquiry. Bathurst heard a great deal of evidence from psychologists and psychiatrists about Folbigg’s diary entries: (SEE BATHURST INQUIRY ATTACHED)
It is important to bear in mind the basis on which the evidence was tendered. It was not to interpret the diary entries. Rather, it was to deal with the question as to whether, to the extent they could be construed as admissions, their reliability as such was affected by the psychiatric or psychological state of Ms Folbigg, at the time she made the entries, which were relied on by the Crown and for that matter at the 2019 Inquiry.4
While there were submissions about the admissibility of this evidence in a hypothetical trial, ultimately those submissions were not entirely necessary because the normal rules of evidence do not strictly apply in judicial inquiries: (SEE BATHURST INQUIRY ATTACHED)
The cases relied on by Counsel Assisting to which I have referred were not cases to which the provisions of the Evidence Act 1995 (Cth) or the Evidence Act 1995 (NSW) applied. Any question of admissibility of the material in a hypothetical criminal trial would depend on the application of ss 56, 79, 80 and possibly ss 85 and 108C of the Evidence Act 1995 (NSW). Further, it would be at least necessary to consider whether the manner in which it was adduced would be rejected in the exercise of the Court’s discretion under s 135 of the Evidence Act 1995 (NSW). It is unnecessary to deal with these questions.5
Accordingly, your question is twofold:
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In a trial in the ACT Supreme Court, held in 2024, would the expert psychological evidence heard by the second Inquirer be admissible? Explain and justify your answer using the Evidence Act 2011 (ACT), which contains the same provisions as the Evidence Act 1995 (NSW), the Bathurst Inquiry and other relevant academic sources.
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Regardless of the answer to question 1, should the expert psychological evidence interpreting the diary entries be admissible? Explain and justify your answer.
For the first part of the essay, you are required to research and analyse the relevant law identifying binding and persuasive legal authorities of case law (Australian court cases) and the Evidence Act 2011 (ACT). For the second part of both options, you are required to research relevant legal commentary, social science, and other secondary sources to support your arguments.
OTHER INSTRUCTIONS
USE AND CITE the attached Evidence Act 2011 (ACT), Flobigg case and Bathurst Enquiry
USE the attached LAWS2207 notes to inform the analysis of the admissibility of evidence, discretions in s135 and s137 of the Evidence Act 2011 (ACT), s79 exception to opinion evidence rule etc etc.
CITATION STYLE must be AGLC-4 (USE THE ATTACHED GUIDE)
MINIMUM 10 OTHER academic secondary sources