R v AC

[2016] NSWSC 207

Supreme Court

New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation:	R v AC [2016] NSWSC 207
Hearing dates:	3 March 2016
Date of orders:	03 March 2016
Decision date:	03 March 2016
Jurisdiction:	Common Law - Criminal
Before:	Hamill J
Decision:	(1) There be non-publication suppression orders prohibiting publication or other disclosure of information relating to Witness M in respect to the current proceedings before the Supreme Court of New South Wales; (2) Second, prohibiting publication or other disclosure of information tending to reveal the current or future whereabouts of Witness M; restricting the disclosure of any information concerning the assistance provided to New South Wales Police or the Office of Director of Public Prosecutions by Witness M.
Catchwords:	CRIMINAL LAW – non publication orders – impending trial – orders made
Legislation Cited:	Court Suppression and Non-Publication Orders Act 2010 (NSW)
Category:	Procedural and other rulings
Parties:	Regina Witness M
Representation:	Counsel: K McKay & P Hogan (Crown) Z Khatiz (Solicitor) (Witness M)   Solicitors: Solicitor for the NSW DPP(Crown) Oxford Lawyers (Witness M)
File Number(s):	2014/90422; 2014/315510
Publication restriction:	No publication until the conclusion of both trials of R v Qaumi & Ors.

EX TEMPORE JUDGMENT

1. HIS HONOUR: Witness M has been a participant as a co-accused in relation to trial proceedings that have been conducted since November of last year. She has this morning been arraigned in closed court and entered pleas of guilty in respect of two counts that might generally be described as being an accessory before the fact to murder and accessory before the fact to discharging a firearm with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm.

2. The Director of Public Prosecution seeks orders for the suppression and non-publication of information relating to Witness M, similar orders relating to the revealing of her current or future whereabouts and information restricting any information concerning the assistance provided by Witness M to the New South Wales Police Force and the office of Director of Public Prosecutions.

3. That notice of motion is supported by a brief affidavit of Ms Moran, who is the solicitor with carriage of the trial proceedings which are continuing, and based upon the provisions of the Court Suppression and Non-Publication Orders Act, and specifically the contention that making such orders are necessary to protect the safety of any person, in this instance Witness M herself, see section 8(1)(c) of the Court Suppression and Non-Publication Orders Act 2010 (NSW).

4. The capacity for violence and the danger in which people who provide evidence against the group known as the Brothers For Life at Blacktown is subject to a good deal of evidence which has come before me in the course of sentencing Witness L, whose name is suppressed, and also in the course of lengthy pre-trial issues that have been ventilated in this Court over the last several months.

5. I am satisfied that, based on the information that Witness M has taken the decision to provide evidence in the forthcoming trial and has, it seems, over the last little while provided statements to police in relation to a number of the matters which are before the Court at the moment and which will be before the Court over the next several months, that it is necessary to protect her safety to make orders along the lines of those contemplated.

6. I think it is also the case, although it is not specifically contended, that the orders are necessary to prevent prejudice to the proper administration of justice, in that a person in her position is entitled to expect the Court to do what it can to protect her safety and a failure do so has a capacity to discourage future offenders from providing the kind of assistance that the Crown and the police anticipate Witness M will provide.

7. In any event, I am satisfied that the grounds under section 8(1), specifically (a) and (c), are met and I propose to make the orders subject to fine tuning what I have before me.

8. I make the following non-publication orders pursuant to section 7 of the Court Suppression and Non-Publication Orders Act 2010 (NSW).

1. There be non-publication suppression orders prohibiting publication or other disclosure of information relating to Witness M in respect to the current proceedings before the Supreme Court of New South Wales;

2. Second, prohibiting publication or other disclosure of information tending to reveal the current or future whereabouts of Witness M; restricting the disclosure of any information concerning the assistance provided to New South Wales Police or the Office of Director of Public Prosecutions by Witness M.

9. Those orders are subject to the exception that the Crown be permitted, and indeed required, to disclose the fact of the plea, the fact that she will assist the prosecution and the statements upon which her evidence is based to the accused in the trial.

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Decision last updated: 22 December 2016