Wednesday, February 3, 2016

CASE FILES from: 03 February 2016 to 02 June 2016


CASE FILES from:  03 February 2016 to 02 June 2016

  • Judgment of
  • Bellew J
  • Decision date
  • 02 June 2016
Catchwords:
CRIMINAL LAW – Jury – Discretionary discharge of juror

  • Judgment of
  • Bellew J
  • Decision date
  • 19 May 2016
Catchwords:
CRIMINAL LAW – Evidence – Circumstantial evidence – Whether there existed an essential intermediate fact which was required to be proved by the Crown beyond reasonable doubt – Whether jury should be directed that the Crown case was in the nature of a “links in the chain” case based upon circumstantial evidence – Direction not given

  • Judgment of
  • Bellew J
  • Decision date
  • 19 May 2016
Catchwords:
CRIMINAL LAW – Evidence – Where the Crown sought a direction as to use of lies as evidence of consciousness of guilt – Where the determination of whether statements were lies generally depended upon an assessment of the Crown case as a whole – Jury to be directed as to use of lies going to credit but not as evidence of a consciousness of guilt

  • Judgment of
  • Bellew J
  • Decision date
  • 16 May 2016
Catchwords:
CRIMINAL LAW – Evidence – Crown case in reply – Whether evidence ought be excluded – Danger of unfair prejudice

  • Judgment of
  • Bellew J
  • Decision date
  • 13 May 2016
Catchwords:
CRIMINAL LAW – Evidence – Crown case in reply – Where Crown sought to lead evidence of facts contrary to assertions made by the accused in such evidence – No suggestion Crown splitting its case – Whether evidence should be excluded – Where accused had effectively conceded that the evidence he gave was in incorrect – Where accused asserted he was mistaken – Evidence allowed

  • Judgment of
  • Bellew J
  • Decision date
  • 20 April 2016
Catchwords:
CRIMINAL LAW – Evidence – Documentary evidence – Discretionary exclusion

  • Judgment of
  • Bellew J
  • Decision date
  • 15 April 2016
Catchwords:
CRIMINAL LAW – Practice and Procedure – Request by jury for transcript of evidence of witness whilst evidence being given – Nature of discretion – Request refused

  • Judgment of
  • Bellew J
  • Decision date
  • 15 April 2016
Catchwords:
CRIMINAL LAW – Evidence – Account given by accused of death of deceased – Allegation of threats made by the co-accused at that time – Where terms of threat included a reference to a previous attempted murder of a police officer – Where further evidence of accused of conversation with the co-accused where the co-accused is alleged to have admitted his involvement in previous murders or attempted murders – Where evidence relied upon by accused in respect of duress – Whether probative value of the evidence was substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice – Evidence excluded

  • Judgment of
  • Bellew J
  • Decision date
  • 31 March 2016
Catchwords:
CRIMINAL LAW – Evidence – Where Crown notified accused’s representatives of an intention to lead evidence shortly before the closure of the Crown case – Where evidence had been in the possession of the police for a significant period of time prior to the trial – Where Crown was on notice from the accused’s opening address of the basis upon which the accused’s case would be conducted – Whether the evidence sought to be adduced by the Crown was unfairly prejudicial – Evidence excluded

  • Judgment of
  • Bellew J
  • Decision date
  • 31 March 2016
Catchwords:
CRIMINAL LAW – Evidence – Evidence of images on phone and computer of the deceased – Whether evidence should be excluded

  • Judgment of
  • Bellew J
  • Decision date
  • 31 March 2016
Catchwords:
CRIMINAL LAW – Evidence – Recorded conversation to which accused a party – Whether conversation privileged – Whether probative value outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice or the danger of the evidence being misleading or confusing

  • Judgment of
  • Bellew J
  • Decision date
  • 21 March 2016
Catchwords:
CRIMINAL LAW – Evidence – Evidence of protected confidence – Application by protected confider that evidence of protected confidence be excluded –Observations as to the proper approach to be adopted upon the making of such an application where the protected confidences sought to be excluded are contained in documents – Where inappropriate to seek exclusion of the entirety of the document – Application granted in respect of those parts of the documents in which there was evidence of a protected confidence

  • Judgment of
  • Bellew J
  • Decision date
  • 18 March 2016
Catchwords:
CRIMINAL LAW – Evidence – Expert evidence of “street deal” value of drugs – Where no evidence that either accused intended to sell drug in “street deals”- Whether the probative value of the evidence outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice – Evidence excluded in part

  • Judgment of
  • Bellew J
  • Decision date
  • 17 March 2016
Catchwords:
CRIMINAL LAW – Evidence – Documents produced on subpoena – Claim for public interest immunity


  • Judgment of
  • Bellew J
  • Decision date
  • 16 March 2016
Catchwords:

CRIMINAL LAW – Practice and procedure – Jury – Application to discharge jury following non-responsive answer by witness suggesting one of the accused was a “drug dealer” – Test to be applied – Necessity to act on the basis that the jury will follow and apply any direction given by the Trial Judge – Where any prejudice to the accused as a result of the evidence was capable of being dealt with by a direction to the jury – Application to discharge jury refused


  • Judgment of
  • Bellew J
  • Decision date
  • 29 March 2016
Catchwords:
CRIMINAL LAW – Evidence – Privilege – Conversation between accused and daughter whilst accused in custody – Where accused asked daughter to convey instructions to his solicitor – Where conversation monitored by authorities – Whether the communication was a confidential communication – Whether the dominant purpose of the conversation was the provision of relevant legal services – Whether any privilege was lost – Whether accused knowingly and voluntarily disclosed the substance of the conversation in light of his knowledge of the fact that the conversation would be monitored and/or recorded   WORDS AND PHRASES – “knowingly and voluntarily”

  • Judgment of
  • Bellew J
  • Decision date
  • 02 March 2016
Catchwords:
CRIMINAL LAW – Evidence – Admissibility of hearsay statement – Statement made by accused to daughter following his arrest – Where statement relevant to issue of duress – No unfair prejudice to co-accused or Crown – Evidence admitted

  • Judgment of
  • Bellew J
  • Decision date
  • 02 March 2016
Catchwords:
CRIMINAL LAW – Practice and Procedure – Suggested impermissible reference by the Crown Prosecutor to a gun when leading evidence from witness – Whether such reference in fact made – Whether jury should be discharged – Application to discharge jury refused

  • Judgment of
  • Bellew J
  • Decision date
  • 01 March 2016
Catchwords:
CRIMINAL LAW – Evidence – Where Counsel for accused sought to elicit evidence of a witness’ belief in cross-examination – Objection to the form of the question – Question rejected   CRIMINAL LAW – Practice and Procedure – Where objection to question on cross-examination was upheld – Where consequent application to discharge jury – Whether such question of itself was prejudicial – Any prejudice could be cured by direction to jury – Application rejected   CRIMINAL LAW – Evidence – Where Counsel for accused sought to cross-examine witness as to credibility on the basis of his criminal history – Whether such history could rationally affect the assessment of the witness’ credibility – Where criminal history more than 20 years old – Evidence incapable of bearing upon assessment of witness’ credit – Application rejected   CRIMINAL LAW – Evidence – Where Crown sought leave to cross-examine unfavourable witness – Application granted

  • Judgment of
  • Bellew J
  • Decision date
  • 29 February 2016
Catchwords:
CRIMINAL LAW – Practice and Procedure – Member of the jury falling asleep during the evidence – Risk of substantial miscarriage of justice – Juror discharged

  • Judgment of
  • Bellew J
  • Decision date
  • 26 February 2016
Catchwords:
CRIMINAL LAW – Evidence – Admissions by accused – Where nature of the admissions equivocal and ambiguous – Limited probative value substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice – Evidence excluded

  • Judgment of
  • Bellew J
  • Decision date
  • 22 February 2016
Catchwords:
CRIMINAL LAW – Evidence – Leading questions – Where counsel for accused sought to put a leading question in cross-examination – Objection to the form of the question – Whether the witness had an interest consistent with interests of the cross-examiner – Whether the witness was sympathetic to the cross-examiner – Question rejected

  • Judgment of
  • Bellew J
  • Decision date
  • 22 February 2016
Catchwords:
CRIMINAL LAW – Evidence – Application for leave to allow witness to revive memory in court – Where Crown led evidence to rebut anticipated evidence of good character – Where Crown sought leave for witness to refresh memory from statement provided to police – Whether the statement was made when events were fresh in the memory – Gap of 1 year between events and the making of the statement by the witness - Leave refused   WORDS AND PHRASES – “Fresh in the memory”


  • Judgment of
  • Bellew J
  • Decision date
  • 22 February 2016
Catchwords:
CRIMINAL LAW – Evidence – Evidence of gunshot residue on clothes worn by accused on the day of the murder of deceased – Whether evidence relevant – Whether evidence unfairly prejudicial

  • Judgment of
  • Bellew J
  • Decision date
  • 16 February 2016
Catchwords:
CRIMINAL LAW – Evidence – Where Crown sought extension of orders to include additional location on a view – No opposition by parties – Orders granted – No point of principle

  • Judgment of
  • Bellew J
  • Decision date
  • 16 February 2016
Catchwords:
CRIMINAL LAW – Evidence – Previous orders made restricting witness’ evidence at trial – Similar evidence sought to be elicited on cross-examination – Whether the probative value of the evidence was substantially outweighed by the danger that the evidence might be misleading or confusing – Whether witness’ account of conversations with two persons was disjointed and incomplete – Admission by witness that he could only understand part of the conversations – Evidence rejected

  • Judgment of
  • Bellew J
  • Decision date
  • 15 February 2016
Catchwords:
CRIMINAL LAW – Evidence – Cross-examination – Cross-examination as to credibility – Where witness sought to be cross-examined about previous drug possession – Whether the evidence could substantially affect the credit of the witness – Cross-examination refused

  • Judgment of
  • Bellew J
  • Decision date
  • 15 February 2016
Catchwords:
CRIMINAL LAW – Evidence – Where Crown sought to lead evidence of previous representations of two persons – Whether such persons were “not available” to give evidence - Where neither person could be positively identified - Evidence rejected   CRIMINAL LAW – Evidence – Where Crown sought to lead evidence of representations made in the course of a conversation with a witness – Where language in which the conversation was conducted was only partially familiar to the witness – Whether probative value of the evidence outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice

  • Judgment of
  • Bellew J
  • Decision date
  • 09 February 2016
Catchwords:
CRIMINAL LAW – Practice and procedure – Claim by Commissioner of Police for public interest immunity in respect of documents in answer to a subpoena – Necessity to carry out a balancing exercise – claim upheld

  • Judgment of
  • Bellew J
  • Decision date
  • 09 February 2016
Catchwords:
CRIMINAL LAW – Evidence – Evidence of a kind which may be unreliable – Where witness pleaded guilty and was sentenced to a term of imprisonment – Where witness offered to assist police and made a statement – Evidence that witness was motivated to assist by the prospect of a reduction in his sentence – Where representations were made to the Governor of NSW for reduction in sentence based on the assistance which was given – Where witness gave evidence in accordance with his statement – Where no decision had been made as to a possible reduction in his sentence as at the date on which he gave evidence – Where counsel for accused sought a direction under s. 165 of Evidence Act 1995 – Opposed by the Crown – Direction given

  • Judgment of
  • Bellew J
  • Decision date
  • 03 February 2016
Catchwords:
CRIMINAL LAW – Jury – Where journalist reporting on trial proceedings had a close friendship with a member of the jury – Where journalist had only become aware of the juror’s presence upon attending court on day 2 of the trial – Necessity to ensure right to a fair trial for all parties – Juror discharged.


Additional files

Evidence Act, s 53 — views — R v Rogerson (No 10)

Evidence Act 1995, s 53 — views — conduct of view appropriate and likely to assist jury in understanding evidence the subject of the Crown case — no suggestion of unfair prejudice — importance of appointing a sworn “shower” to conduct the view — duty of trial judge to ensure adequate recording of events at view to enable appellate court to effectively perform its functions if required — R v Rogerson; R v McNamara (No 10) [2015] NSWSC 1067

Media — trials — applications made in jury’s absence — R v Rogerson (No 13)

The two accused were charged with murder. Pre-trial applications were heard by the trial judge from April 2015, before the trial’s scheduled commencement date in late July. In early August 2015, an article was published in a Sunday newspaper making the following references to pre-trial applications: 
The trial is set to go ahead on August 18 in the New South Wales Supreme Court, but there is an issue with part of the background of one of the accused men.
Lawyers for one of the accused want this information to be put to the jury, but this is being resisted by the other man’s counsel.
Another matter under discussion is whether the two men should be granted separate trials.


Monday, February 1, 2016

Trial of Roger Rogerson and Glen McNamara for the murder of student Jamie Gao begins in the NSW Supreme Court



"He went to that meeting and went into that storage shed thinking that what was to happen would shortly make him very rich," the Crown Prosecutor said.

"Instead he was shot and killed and dragged to the back of the station wagon and dumped at sea."

The victim was Jamie Gao, a 20-year-old student and would-be drug dealer who was hoping to make his fortune in a "massive" one-off drug deal.

Instead, the NSW Supreme Court heard on Monday, Mr Gao was murdered by the two men who were supposed to be the buyers in the deal – Roger Rogerson and Glen McNamara.

In his opening address to the pair's murder trial, Crown Prosecutor Chris Maxwell, QC, said it was an "undeniable fact" that Mr Gao was shot twice in a rented storage shed in the south-west Sydney suburb of Padstow on the afternoon of May 20, 2014.

Six days later the young man's body was found floating in the sea off Cronulla inside a surfboard cover and wrapped in blue plastic.

The members of the jury were shown still images from CCTV footage which allegedly showed that on May 20 Mr McNamara and Mr Gao went into the unlit shed at 1.46pm and that Mr Rogerson joined them at 2.10pm.

Eight minutes later the two accused emerged dragging a silver surfboard cover allegedly containing Mr Gao's body.

"What is abundantly clear is that Mr Gao was shot dead behind the closed doors at a point in time during that 30 minutes," Mr Maxwell said.

"It's clear, you might think, that Jamie Gao was shot by one of the accused. It will become apparent that the prosecution cannot establish which accused was the shooter. But it doesn't have to prove which one was the killer."

He said that this was because Mr Rogerson and Mr McNamara were part of a joint criminal enterprise to murder Mr Gao and then steal the 2.78kg of methyl amphetamine he had brought to sell to them.

After the murder, police allegedly found the drugs in Mr McNamara's car wrapped in two brown pillow cases.

Both Mr Rogerson and Mr McNamara have been charged with commercial drug supply in addition to murder.

Mr Rogerson is charged in the alternative of accessory to murder.

Both accused have pleaded not guilty to all charges against them.

Mr Maxwell said that Mr McNamara had been hired as a private investigator by Mr Gao's friends to help them fight their own drugs charges and that Mr Gao had acted as a Cantonese interpreter for their meetings.

Not long after, Mr Gao had allegedly told his cousin that "the deal with Glen was going to be massive" and that he was "going to be rich soon".

The trial, before Justice Geoffrey Bellew, continues.

Ref: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/trial-of-roger-rogerson-and-glen-mcnamara-for-the-murder-of-student-jamie-gao-begins-in-the-nsw-supreme-court-20160201-gmiwor.html

Rogerson, McNamara murder trial begins



When Jamie Gao walked into a darkened southwest Sydney storage unit two years ago, he thought he was about to become a rich man, a jury has heard.

But prosecutors say Mr Gao never got rich, and he never walked out.

Instead, the Crown says, Mr Gao was murdered inside the Padstow Rent A Space by two older men, Roger Rogerson and Glen McNamara, who then stuffed his body into a surfboard bag and dumped it out at sea.

Rogerson and McNamara have pleaded not guilty to murdering Mr Gao on May 20, 2014.

Read more at http://www.9news.com.au/national/2016/02/01/15/26/jamie-gao-murder-trial-begins#xGpBvKzMA6sk5FYw.99

Roger Rogerson, Glen McNamara made agreement to kill or seriously injure Jamie Gao, court hears


Ref: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-02-01/roger-rogerson-and-glen-mcnamara-murder-trial-begins/7130652

The murder trial of Roger Rogerson and Glen McNamara has heard details about the events leading up to the discovery of Jamie Gao's body in May 2014.

The men have pleaded not guilty to killing the 20-year-old at a storage shed in Padstow and dumping his body off the coast of Cronulla.

Crown prosecutor Christopher Maxwell QC has used his opening address to outline the crown's case during the trial's opening at the Supreme Court in Sydney.

Mr Maxwell has told the court the Sydney student entered a storage shed at Padstow with McNamara and they were joined by Rogerson a few minutes later.

The jury heard the accused were captured on CCTV, dragging a silver surfboard cover of "considerable weight" out of the shed just over half an hour later.

Mr Gao's body was found floating off Shelly Beach at Cronulla by fishermen six days later.

Mr Maxwell told the court a post mortem examination found the victim had been shot twice in the chest.

Mr Maxwell said the crown did not have to prove which of the defendants killed Mr Gao, but that there was an agreement to kill or seriously injure the victim.

The prosecution told the jury the reasons why Mr Gao walked into the storage shed and why the accused were with him will be subject to a lot of evidence.

The trial has also been told the victim first met McNamara in early 2013, when he was a Cantonese interpreter in a case involving a friend.

McNamara had been hired as a private investigator in the matter.

The trial continues.