On 10 June 2022, the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Queensland delivered its decision regarding an appeal against conviction and sentence brought by Ben Jayaweera, a former financial adviser and director of Growth Plus Financial Group Pty Ltd (in Liquidation).
The Court of Appeal allowed the appeal on grounds including that deficiencies in the trial judge’s directions to the jury resulted in a miscarriage of justice.
Mr Jayaweera had previously been convicted in October 2019 of six counts of dishonestly causing his clients a pecuniary detriment (19-285MR).
A new trial was ordered on all 6 counts and Mr Jayaweera’s convictions were set aside.
The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions prosecuted the matter after a referral from ASIC.
