Following a judge-alone criminal trial involving former intimate partners, the court assessed allegations of sexual assault, property damage, attempted murder, and assault causing bodily harm.
Applying the W.(D.) framework, the court rejected the accused's evidence as internally inconsistent and largely unbelievable, and accepted the complainant's evidence on the January and April 2019 incidents, subject to minor peripheral reservations.
The court found beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused sexually assaulted the complainant, wilfully damaged her phone, and stabbed her in the breast causing bodily harm.
However, applying the specific-intent requirements for attempted murder and the stabbing factors drawn from the jurisprudence, the court held that the limited force of the single flesh wound left a reasonable doubt about an intent to kill.
The court also found no evidentiary foundation for a defence of advanced intoxication.
