Overview
- The Court of Appeal found a miscarriage of justice, set aside the conviction and left it to prosecutors to decide any further action.
- The decision notes the Crown is not intending to put a case in order and appears unlikely to ever pursue a retrial.
- Rees’s lawyer is seeking a Superior Court date next month to address next steps and hopes to have clarity by year-end, including the possibility of a withdrawal or agreed acquittal.
- An undisclosed cassette recording of landlord James Raymer contained inconsistent and potentially incriminating statements about his contact with the child, which the court said should have been disclosed.
- Rees, who served 23 years and says his confession was coerced, is free of the murder conviction pending the Crown’s decision after a 2023 federal referral returned the case to the appeal court.