This page contains casenotes and articles written by Tom. You can search for a case by name, or you can browse by year / topic.

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Tom Spohr 1/3/25 Tom Spohr 1/3/25

Dimitriou v R [2025] NSWCCA 18

The Court of Criminal Appeal (‘CCA’) has held that in a prosecution for the offence of Fraud, it is not necessary for the Crown to prove that the accused intended the financial advantage or financial disadvantage or was reckless as to that outcome. The element of deception in this context already re

Tom Spohr 1/4/24 Tom Spohr 1/4/24

Bazzi v R [2024] NSWCCA 35

In this judgment dealing with the problematic (but relatively common) offence under s 115 of the Crimes Act, the Court of Criminal Appeal has discussed the elements of the offence, revisited the problems with sentencing for it, and called for Parliamentary intervention.

Tom Spohr 1/5/22 Tom Spohr 1/5/22

GS v R; Director of Public Prosecutions (NSW) v GS [2022] NSWCCA 65

In this decision, the CCA (Payne JA; Rothman and Harrison JJ agreeing) has declared that ‘intentionally chokes’ within the meaning of s 37(1A) of the Crimes Act 1900 means ‘intentionally apply pressure to the neck so as to be capable of affecting the breath or the flow of blood to or from the head’.