The Supreme Court has dismissed a convicted sex offender's appeal that his right to a fair trial was compromised by his jury foreman being a retired police officer.
The complainant, referred to as Mr T, was convicted of 31 offences committed against his stepdaughters.
He submitted to the Court of Appeals and then the Supreme Court that the foreperson's career could have affected the jury's independence or impartiality in the case, or given the appearance of having done so.
This undermined "the fundamental right to a fair trial and therefore public confidence in the justice system", he said.
Yet the foreperson told the Judge she was a former police officer and knew the officer in charge, though only professionally, when her name was drawn in the selection process.