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Australia Leading Case assault battery false imprisonment

Aubrey v The Queen

(2017) 260 CLR 305
JurisdictionAustralia
CourtHigh Court of Australia
Year2017
StatusBinding authority

Summary

Non-disclosure of HIV status vitiates consent to sexual contact, as the undisclosed risk of serious disease is material to the consent given.

Key Principle

The HCA held that consent to assault is vitiated where the accused failed to disclose that they had HIV; the non-disclosure negated the complainant's consent because the risk of serious disease was material to the consent given.

Area of Law

criminal

Related Cases

Pell v The Queen (2020) 268 CLR 123

Appellate court must itself assess whether jury verdict was unreasonable where unchallenged opportunity evidence raised reasonable doubt as to guilt.

Smethurst v Commissioner of Police (2020) 272 CLR 177

Search warrant executed at journalist's home held invalid for technical defects; High Court considered scope of implied freedom of political communication but declined to quash the warrant on that basis.

De Silva v The Queen (2019) 268 CLR 57

The High Court considered the Browne v Dunn rule and the appropriate jury directions when a party fails to cross-examine a witness on a matter it intends to contradict.

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