Maree Rogers wins appeal against conviction for drunken knife attack on ... - The Australian

A DARLING Downs mother jailed for the attempted murder of her boyfriend more than two years ago has had her conviction set aside.

The Court of Appeal in Brisbane on Friday allowed Leanne Maree Rogers' appeal against her conviction for trying to stab her then boyfriend Steve Smith to death on October 10, 2010.

A Toowoomba Supreme Court jury found Rogers guilty in March last year of attempting to murder Mr Smith.

Rogers had earlier pleaded guilty to stabbing, but did not try to kill, Smith five times during a drunken fight at their unit complex.

The pair had been drinking on the day of the attack and Mr Smith was alleged to have become angry after returning from a local hotel because Rogers was entertaining another couple.

Mr Smith, assuming Rogers was romantically involved with the other man, assaulted his girlfriend.

Rogers allegedly then retrieved a knife and stabbed Mr Smith once in the neck and four times in the upper torso.

Justice George Fryberg, in the wake of the jury's guilty verdict, sentenced Rogers to eight years imprisonment.

Rogers appealed the jury's conviction on the basis the Justice Fryberg erred in "directing the jury to ignore her plea of guilty" to the lesser charge of grievous bodily harm.

She claimed the judge's failure to do so resulted in a "miscarriage of justice."

Court of Appeal president Margaret McMurdo, in her written judgment, agreed with Rogers.

"The judge made clear to the jury that they could only convict (Rogers) if they were satisfied ... she intended to kill Mr Smith and that this was the only reasonable inference on the evidence," Justice McMurdo said.

"But in the absence of a comprehensive judicial direction as to the meaning of grievous bodily harm, I consider there is a danger ... the jury failed to fully consider the reasonable hypothesis well open on the evidence that (Rogers) formed an intention not to kill Mr Smith but rather cause him (grievous bodily harm).

"The effect of this omission ... amounts to a miscarriage of justice."

Justice McMurdo's decision was unanimously supported by Justices Roslyn Atkinson and James Henry.

The court granted Rogers' appeal, set aside her conviction and ordered she be retried on a date to be fixed.