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Citation
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Judgment date
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| August 2020 |
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25 August 2020 |
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Whether an operator breached duty by emitting sulphur dioxide causing death; appeal dismissed and damages increased.
Environmental/tort law – duty of care for industrial emissions; statutory/regulatory limits as guidance not absolute defence; causation by toxic gas inhalation; expert evidence evaluation; indemnity under environmental liability agreement limited to compliant conduct; assessment and increase of general damages for prolonged pollution.
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24 August 2020 |
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20 August 2020 |
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20 August 2020 |
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Whether convictions resting solely on identification evidence are safe where parades, eyewitness reliability, and risk of mistaken identification are in issue.
Criminal law — Identification evidence — Value of identification parades — Courtroom identification inadmissible without satisfactory explanation — Single-witness identification requires corroboration or distinctive features — Risk of honest mistake must be excluded before conviction.
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20 August 2020 |
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Court assessed reliability of identification evidence, quashing unsupported courtroom IDs and upholding parade-backed identifications.
Identification evidence — Identification parade vs courtroom identification — Single-witness identification — Risk of honest mistake — Sufficiency of identification to sustain conviction.
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20 August 2020 |
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20 August 2020 |
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20 August 2020 |
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20 August 2020 |
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Whether defective voire-dire recording and proof of age vitiate a defilement conviction; sentence reduced as excessive.
Criminal law – defilement – voire dire (recording questions and answers) – proof of age of child – corroboration and identity – adequacy of trial judgment – appellate review – excessive sentence reduced.
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19 August 2020 |
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19 August 2020 |
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19 August 2020 |
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19 August 2020 |
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19 August 2020 |
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Court upheld conviction where sole eyewitness (deceased’s wife) was found credible despite initial concealment and inconsistencies.
Criminal law – witness credibility and corroboration – suspect witnesses (relative of deceased) – child witness treated as ordinary witness post-amendment – threats as special and compelling grounds to exclude danger of false implication – post-mortem corroboration – alibi investigation.
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19 August 2020 |
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Whether uncorroborated testimony of a witness close to the victim and a res gestae statement can sustain murder conviction.
Criminal law – evidence – witness with interest and corroboration – identification evidence – admissibility of victim’s statements as res gestae – sufficiency of direct evidence versus circumstantial inference.
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19 August 2020 |
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Appeal allowed: conviction quashed because sole eyewitness with potential bias was unreliable and lacked corroboration.
Criminal law — Identification evidence — Witness with possible interest to serve — Need for corroboration or evidence excluding danger of false implication — Effect of accused's notoriety on reliability of eyewitness identification; character evidence in context.
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19 August 2020 |
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14 August 2020 |
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14 August 2020 |
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14 August 2020 |
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13 August 2020 |
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13 August 2020 |
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13 August 2020 |
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12 August 2020 |
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6 August 2020 |
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Whether a distributor can claim goodwill compensation for marketing suppliers' trademarked goods absent an express contractual entitlement.
Distribution agreements — entitlement to goodwill compensation — distinction between commercial agent and distributor — trademark goodwill (supplier) v business goodwill (distributor) — no automatic common-law indemnity for distributors on termination — damages for breach/insufficient notice preserved.
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6 August 2020 |
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4 August 2020 |