Expert Evidence in the Queensland Mental Health Court

Abstract

In Donoghoe v DPP (Qld) [2008] QCA 309, the Queensland Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal from a decision of the Mental Health Court which considered a range of expert opinion on whether the appellant was in a state of abnormality of mind such as to substantially impair her capacity to know that she ought not kill her children. After reviewing the expert evidence of the four psychiatrists, as well as the advice of the two psychiatrists appointed to assist the Mental Health Court, the Court of Appeal did not find that it was unreasonable for the Mental Health Court to come to the view that the appellant's anger and resentment towards her former husband were such as to afford an explanation of her actions on the relevant day. The Court of Appeal considered how determinations of criminal responsibility can be made where there is widely divergent expert opinion on the state of mind of an accused person at the time of an offence.