Jurisdiction of Court in Murder Cases and Options for Ameliorating Pre-Trial Publicity Effects

CRIMINAL LAW
CRIMINAL LAW
Name of Student
Name of University
Author Note

1CRIMINAL LAW
The classification of murder as offence and the jurisdiction of court to
hear the matter
Murder can be defined under section 302 of the Queensland Criminal Code1 as
unlawfully killing one person with the intention of causing death of the person or the intention of
causing grievous bodily harm, done with an indifference towards human life. The main element
of murder has been described as the intention to kill (mens rea) and it is not seen to be applying
to severe bodily harm done to a person who subsequently dies.
The Supreme Court of Australia can be seen to have the jurisdiction of hearing the matter
under the Provision of the section 117 of Criminal Procedure Act2.
The options available for ameliorating the effects of the pre-trial publicity
Every accused person, according to judges in certain cases, can be seen to have the right
for fair trial. In the Mokbel3 case the court decided that for having a fair trial for an accused the
jury needs to be reaching its verdict by taking reference only from the evidence that have been
admitted to the trial and not with the help of the references of the facts or alleged facts that had
been gathered from the media or other outside sources. There are various ways for ensuring fair
trial and ameliorating the effects of the ‘pre-trial publicity’. These options are: Contempt by
Publication, stay application, suppression and non-publication orders and judge-alone trial.4 In
this case the judges can make suppression or non-publication orders non-publication of the pre-
1 Queensland Criminal Code 1899, s.302
2 Criminal Procedure Act 1921, s.117
3 R v Mokbel [2009] 26 VR 618
4 McEwen, Rebecca, John Eldridge, and David Caruso. "Differential or deferential to media? The effect of
prejudicial publicity on judge or jury." The International Journal of Evidence & Proof 22.2 (2018): 124-143.

2CRIMINAL LAW
trial information under section 3 of the Court Suppression and Non-Publication Orders Act5. The
court can further hold the newspaper guilty of contempt for publishing materials that can
prejudice with the murder proceeding.
The relevant legislative provision in the Queensland Criminal Code to the
issue of pre-trial publicity
Under section 590AA of the Queensland Criminal Code6 it has been stated that if there
has been an indictment before a court against a person, a party can be applying for a ruling or
direction, or a judge of the court may on their own initiative be directing the parties to attend
before the court for rulings or directions, for the conduction of the trial or any pre-trial hearing.7
Section 590AAA of the Act8 provides for the noncompliance with the directions of court
about the disclosures. The section states that If it the court finds that a person has not been in
compliance with a direction given under section 590AA (2) (ba)9, the court may be seen to be
directing the person to be filing an affidavit, or giving evidence in court, explaining and
justifying the failure of the compliance.
5 Court Suppression and Non-Publication Orders Act 2010, s.3
6 Queensland Criminal Code 1899, s.590AA
7 Douglas, H, Higgins, E & Barrett, M 2017, Criminal process in Queensland, 2nd edn, Lawbook Co, Pyrmont, New
South Wales. .
8 Ibid, s.590AAA
9 Ibid, s.590AA(2)(ba)