Jeffrey v Director of Public Prosecutions (Cwlth)

In *Jeffrey v Director of Public Prosecutions (Cwlth)* [1995] NSWCA 217, the New South Wales Court of Appeal considered an appeal by the applicant, Jeffrey, against a decision of the Supreme Court of New South Wales. The dispute concerned the admissibility of evidence obtained by police during a search of the applicant's premises.

The central legal issue before the Court of Appeal was whether the evidence, which included a quantity of cannabis, had been obtained unlawfully, thereby rendering it inadmissible under section 138 of the *Evidence Act 1995* (NSW). This required the Court to determine if the police had acted without or beyond their lawful authority in conducting the search and seizing the drugs.

The Court of Appeal found that the police had acted unlawfully in executing the search warrant. Specifically, the warrant was found to be invalid because it had been issued by a police officer who lacked the necessary statutory authority to do so. Consequently, the search was unlawful, and the evidence obtained as a result was deemed inadmissible under section 138 of the *Evidence Act 1995* (NSW), which mandates the exclusion of improperly or illegally obtained evidence unless the desirability of admitting it outweighs the undesirability of admitting evidence that has been obtained in that way.

The Court of Appeal upheld the appeal, quashed the conviction, and ordered that the evidence be excluded.