Director of Public Prosecutions v Ivanisevic

The case before the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory involves a prosecution application for permission to adduce tendency evidence in criminal proceedings against Marko Ivanisevic. The accused faces nine counts related to threatened or actual violence in the context of a domestic relationship, including assault occasioning actual bodily harm and intentionally inflicting grievous bodily harm. The prosecution seeks to rely on the accused's alleged tendency to act in an aggressive and violent manner towards the complainant to support the charges.

The legal issues before the court revolve around the admissibility of tendency evidence under the Evidence Act 1995 (ACT). The court must determine whether the evidence of the accused's tendency to act in an aggressive and violent manner towards the complainant has significant probative value and whether that value outweighs the danger of unfair prejudice to the accused. The court's reasoning focused on the relevance of the evidence, the specificity of the alleged tendency, and the balance between probative value and potential prejudice.

Chief Justice McCallum concluded that the evidence of the accused's tendency to act in an aggressive and violent manner towards the complainant is relevant and has significant probative value. The court assessed the nature of the alleged tendency, noting that all the offences were committed against the same complainant within a short period, mostly in the accused's house, and involved coercive or controlling conduct. The court found that the generality of the tendency did not undermine the requirements of the Markuleski direction and that the probative value of the evidence outweighed the danger of unfair prejudice to the accused.

The court granted the prosecution's application, permitting them to rely on the tendency evidence as notified in the notice of intention to adduce tendency evidence dated 25 January 2023. The ruling assumes that the evidence will be as set out in the Crown case statement. This decision allows the prosecution to use the evidence of the accused's alleged tendency to support the charges, provided that the evidence aligns with the notification.