ANDREW BOE

Andrew Boe was first admitted to legal practice in 1989. He was admitted to the Queensland and NSW Bars in 2009. He signed the Victorian Bar Roll in 2022.

Andrew operates a national practice with Chambers in Sydney and Brisbane. He has appeared in trial and appeal courts and tribunals in most states and territories of Australia (and in the High Court of Australia) in criminal litigation concerning a broad spectrum of offences, including serious sex offences, drug offences, fraud, corruption, driving offences causing death or injury, serious assault, unlawful killing and murder.

Andrew has also appeared in coronial inquiries, commissions of inquiry, civil defamation proceedings, judicial review proceedings and in child protection matters. He has represented many professionals, including lawyers, medical practitioners and those who work in the financial sector, in respect of quasi-criminal and professional misconduct allegations.

Prior to coming to the Bar, Andrew was the Principal of a criminal law firm based in Queensland for nineteen years and was an Accredited Specialist in criminal law. As a solicitor he represented Ivan Milat at his trial in NSW (serial killings) in 1994-96, David Ettridge (co-accused of Pauline Hanson) at their successful appeals for political corruption and for the Palm Island community at the Inquest into the death of Mulrunji (indigenous person killed by a police officer).

Indigenous Committee ABA
Criminal Law Committee ABA

Vicky Johnston (Clerk)
Black Chambers
(02) 8590 5182
0408 418 177

Black Chambers
Wallamulla, Gadigal Country
Suite 805, Level 8
185 Elizabeth Street
Sydney NSW 2000
Australia

Carbolic Chambers
Level 31, 239 George Street
Brisbane QLD 4000
Australia

Parnells Barristers
Level 2, 550 Lonsdale Street
Melbourne Vic 3000
Australia

Appeals

High Court of Australia

• BBH v The Queen [2011] HCA Trans 121 (led by Walker SC, with Paula Morreau) – Special leave
• BBH v The Queen (2012) 245 CLR 499; [2012] HCA 9 (led by Bret Walker SC and Peter Callaghan SC) The admissibility of uncharged acts and trial directions in a criminal trial.
• State of Western Australia v Munda (2012) 43 WAR 137, (2013) 249 CLR 600 (with Dominic Brunello (WA)) – Regard to be given by sentencing judges to an offender’s Aboriginality including the imposition of extra-curial ‘traditional punishment’.
• Smith v The Queen [2015] HCATrans 84 (with Ben Dighton (Qld)), – Special leave.
• Smith v The Queen (2015) 255 CLR 161 [2015] HCA 27 (with Morreau (Qld) and McGee (NSW)) – Questions that arise when a jury reveals its pre-verdict voting numbers when deadlocked during deliberations. There were conflicting approaches in Queensland and Victoria that required resolution.

Court of Appeal, Queensland

• R v Chmieluk; Ex parte Attorney-General [2018] QCA 271; [2018] 43 QLR (with Paula Morreau (Qld)) – Crown appeal against sentence. Chmieluk was sentenced for dangerous operation of a motor vehicle whilst intoxicated (0.22%) causing death. She was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment suspended after 3 months. The COA dismissed the Crown appeal.

Court of Criminal Appeal, NSW

• Thafer v R [2019] NSWCCA 143 (with Ramesh Rajalingam (NSW)). Thafer sought to withdraw his guilty plea to sexual assault charges, nearly four years after he was sentenced.
• R v DP [2019] NSWCCA 55 (with Sian McGee (NSW)). AG appeal against sentence.

Full Court, Northern Territory

• NB, MB, PB v SB, MS, CEO, Territory Families NT [2020] NTCA. (with Tamzin Lee (NT)). Successful respondents in a child welfare matter concerning provisions of the Care and Protection Act 2007 (NT) concerning aboriginal children.
• NB & Ors v SB & Ors [2020] HCATrans 168 (16 October 2020), High Court, Australia (with Ben Dighton (Qld) and Paula Morreau (Qld), contra Wyvill SC (NT) and Webb QC (SA)) for the successful respondent in the special leave hearing.

Full Court, South Australia

• Kerin v The Queen [2022] SASCA 19 (with Dan Fuller (NSW)) conviction appeal, in respect of fraud charges against a former legal practitioner. This appeal was successfully brought six years after verdict.

Trials & Applications

New South Wales

• R v Vitale, July 2015, coram Yehia SC DCJ (with Sian McGee (NSW)) – commercial quantity drug manufacture
• R v Brooks – February – April 2017, (Supreme Court, NSW before Hamill J): R v Brooks [2017] NSWSC 188; (No 2) [2017] NSWSC 260; (No 3) [2017] NSWSC 261; (No 4) [2017] NSWSC 315; (No 5) [2017] NSWSC 824 – murder.
• R v YS (District Court, NSW, Leatherbarrow SC DCJ) (with Sian McGee (NSW)) February 2018 – rape & sexual assault, Accused faced 6 sexual assault and rape charges. He was an Uber driver.
• R v RP (District Court, NSW, Norton SC DCJ) (with Ramesh Rajalingam (NSW)) July 2018 – rape.
• R v Leung & Webster, District Court, Nielson DCJ (with Claire O’Neill (NSW)) April 2022 – commercial quantity drug manufacture and supply Queensland
• In the matter of Queensland Nickel Pty Ltd (In Liquidation), (with Dan Fuller (NSW) May to July 2017 for Clive Palmer, coram Dowsett J, Fed Court) – Corporations law
• R v Oakley, March 2016, coram McMeekin J, (with Andrew O’Brien (Qld)) – murder. Accused was alleged to have been part of drug ring and retribution murder. Murder discontinued at trial; plea to murder (time served)
• R v Mackenzie, May 2016, coram Richards DCJ, Qld (with Ben Dighton (Qld)) –dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm
• Watney v Kencian & Woolley [2018] 1 Qd R 407 (with Patrick McCafferty (Qld)) – Defamation proceedings including two trials in the District Court, an appeal to Queensland Court of Appeal, special leave to the High Court and re-trial – Andrew appeared for Dr Kencian and Mr Woolley (parents) who raised four adopted Indian orphans in Cairns. Two of them were racially vilified at the local Anglican College. The parents wrote a letter of complaint to the Director-General about the school’s and the church’s handling of the matter. The school principal sued the parents for defamation and claimed $400,000 in damages. At the first trial in 2016 before Morzone DCJ in Cairns, the jury found there was no defamation. These verdicts were set aside by the Queensland Court of Appeal, and a retrial ordered. At the subsequent jury trial in March 2018, again before Morzone DCJ, the verdicts were again in favour of the parents.
• R v AA (District Court, Qld, Lynham DCJ) (with Paula Morreau (Qld)). September 2018 –rape trial. Accused faced one count of sexual assault (rape). He is Arabic and his accusers were French citizens, resulting in an unwieldy process with often three translators operating at the one time.

Victoria

• Commissioner of Police v Nikolic, April and May 2016, (on occasions, led by Merkel QC, coram Ginnane J, Victoria) – judicial review of exclusion racecourse notice

Northern Territory

• REF and SJP v Chief Executive Officer, Territory Families (NT) [2019] NTSC 4, Supreme Court, Northern Territory, Barr J – For REF and SJP (with Fuller (NSW) and Dighton (Qld)), the non-indigenous foster parents of an indigenous child. Judicial review and ‘parens patriae’ proceedings were successfully brought in the NT Supreme Court to set aside the decision to remove the child from their care.
• Inquest into the death in custody of Kumanjayi Walker, Alice Springs NT (with Andrew O’Brien (Qld) & Dan Fuller (NSW))