High Court quashes man's murder conviction

A Queensland man found guilty of the shooting murder of his girlfriend in 2013 will face a new trial after the High Court quashed his conviction.

Christopher Koani was found guilty of murdering his de facto partner Natalie Leaney by a Brisbane Supreme Court jury in November 2015 following a six-day trial.

He appealed against the conviction in the Queensland Court of Appeal the following November but, when that was unsuccessful, took the case to the High Court.

On Thursday, it unanimously ruled that the appeal should be allowed and ordered his conviction be quashed and a new trial held.

Koani's legal team argued the lower court had erred in how it interpreted a section of the criminal code imposing a duty on a person in charge of a dangerous thing, such as a gun.

Ms Leaney died from a single gunshot wound to the head on March 10, 2013.