R v Carne

The Supreme Court of Queensland heard an application from the Commissioner of Police to set aside a subpoena issued on behalf of David Nicholas Carne, requiring the production of a document referred to as the major incident log related to the investigation of Heather Edgerton's murder. Carne had been charged jointly with Darren James Harris, who was not a party to the application. The document in question was a series of printouts from a computer containing entries by various unidentified individuals. The Crown argued that producing the document would reveal the names and details of confidential police informants, which would be oppressive and amount to a fishing expedition.

The court needed to determine whether the subpoena should be set aside due to the potential revelation of confidential informants' identities and whether the subpoena was oppressive or a fishing expedition. The Crown argued that the log fell under the category of privileged information related to protecting informers. The respondent's counsel argued that the log could help clarify evidence left vague during the committal, specifically regarding the presentation of photoboards and the process of identification.

The court found that while a more liberal approach should be adopted in criminal cases to make information available to the defence, the log did not contain any material relevant to the stated forensic purposes. The log contained numerous entries unrelated to the stated purposes and revealed the names of many people who had provided information to the police. The court held that the log contained the names of individuals who had provided information, and if a witness were asked about that information, the privilege attaching to such information would apply. The court concluded that the log did not materially assist the respondent in his defence, and therefore, the subpoena was set aside.

The court ordered that the subpoena be set aside.