Alexandra Monaghan succeeds in Submission of No Case to Answer in Burglary and Robbery Trial.

Alexandra Monaghan, instructed by Dante Leccacorvi of Whitelock and Storr, was instructed to represent Mr A from an early stage of proceedings through to trial.

Mr A was jointly charged with two others with attempted robbery and burglary. The case was unusual in that the Crown successfully applied to admit the deceased complainant’s evidence as hearsay. The prosecution case against Mr A was that he was the third male to attend the complainant’s property, and assisted or encouraged his co-defendants to make threats in order to steal. The Crown’s case was supported by a sighting of Mr A by a Police Officer, who had known Mr A for over 20 years, in the general vicinity of the complainant’s home between 5 and 10 minutes before the alleged incident.

The defence case was that Mr A was not present, albeit Mr A was not able to provide any alibi witnesses.

In challenging the Crown’s case, Alexandra successfully opposed the Crown’s application to admit 37 of Mr A’s previous convictions for burglary, theft and robbery.

At the conclusion of the Crown’s case, which involved the jury being read statements from the complainant, being shown body worn video of accounts that the complainant had given, and hearing live evidence from 3 police officers, Alexandra made a submission of no case to answer. In doing so, Alexandra relied on the inconsistencies in the complainant’s account and the evidence obtained from the Police Officer through cross-examination to demonstrate that the evidence was inherently weak and vague.

The submission of no case to answer was successful, resulting in the jury being directed by the Judge to return not guilty verdicts against Mr A.