R v Chandler (No. 1) - [2017] NSWSC 1565

Supreme Court

New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: R v Chandler (No. 1) [2017] NSWSC 1565
Hearing dates: 20 October 2017
Date of orders: 20 October 2017
Decision date: 20 October 2017
Jurisdiction: Common Law
Before: Johnson J
Decision:
1. An order is made under the Court Suppression and Non-Publication Orders Act 2010 prohibiting publication of the fact that Mr Chandler has pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Tateolena Tauifaga.
2. This order will operate until further order of the Court, with the expectation that the present order will be lifted when the jury returns verdicts at Mr Chandler's armed robbery trial to proceed in early 2018.
3. The non-publication order made by the Court is to operate throughout the Commonwealth of Australia.
[These orders were lifted on 4 July 2018]

Catchwords: CRIMINAL LAW – Offender pleads guilty in Supreme Court to manslaughter – Offender charged with armed robbery offences to proceed to trial by jury in District Court – earlier trial of armed robbery matters aborted because of publicity concerning circumstances of manslaughter offence – temporary non-publication order made concerning manslaughter proceedings – order to be lifted after verdicts returned in armed robbery trial
Legislation Cited: ---
Cases Cited: Court Suppression and Non-publication Orders Act 2010
Texts Cited: ----
Category: Procedural and other rulings
Parties: Regina (Crown)
Christopher Chandler (Offender)
Representation:
Counsel:
Mr M Tedeschi AM QC; Mr A Morris (Crown)
Mr PJ McGrath SC (Offender)
Solicitors:
Director of Public Prosecutions (Crown)
Aquila Lawyers (Offender)

File Number(s): 2017/81974
Publication restriction: 1. Judgment and orders may not be published until non-publication order lifted by the Supreme Court after verdicts are returned in Offender’s 2018 District Court trial. : R v Chandler (No. 1) [2017] NSWSC 1565. The trial was not reached in early 2018 and was stood over to late June 2018. This non-publication order was lifted on 4 July 2018 after the Court was informed that the Offender had pleaded guilty in the District Court on 2 July 2018 and that his matters were no longer proceeding to trial in that Court. 2. The parents of Tateolena Tauaifaga, Hellina Tauaifaga and Topaz Hunia, have given their consent to the publication of Tateolena’s name and their own names for the purpose of s.15A Children (Criminal Proceedings) Act 1987, but not the names of other children (T11.33-37, 20 October 2017).

Judgment

JOHNSON J: This morning, Christopher Chandler has pleaded guilty to the manslaughter on 8 January 2015 at Constitution Hill in the State of New South Wales of Tateolena Tauifaga. The Court convicted Mr Chandler of that offence.
The Court has received, as part of the sentencing hearing, a Statement of Agreed Facts and a folder of Crown material on sentence.
An application has been made by Mr Chandler for a non-publication order pursuant to the Court Suppression and Non-publication Orders Act 2010 in the following circumstances. Mr Chandler is to stand trial on a number of counts of armed robbery in the District Court commencing on 29 January 2018. The…

Grounds of appeal

[14] The appellant contends that the primary judge erred in finding that the respondent had discharged the onus of establishing the matters required under the relevant provision.

[15] It was submitted that his Honour failed to give adequate weight to the evidence of the second witness, and that the findings of fact were not reasonably open on the material before the Court.

[16] The respondent, for its part, submits that no error is disclosed, and that the conclusions reached were well within the range of outcomes available to the primary judge.

Consideration

[17] It is convenient to deal first with the question of construction, as the resolution of that issue informs the remaining grounds advanced by the appellant.

[18] For the reasons that follow, we are of the view that the appeal should be allowed in part and the matter remitted for further determination.

Continue reading R v Chandler (No. 1)

Details

AGLC: R v Chandler (No. 1) [2017] NSWSC 1565
Case: [2017] NSWSC 1565
Decision Date: 20 October 2017

CaseChat Overview and Summary

The case of R v Chandler (No. 1) involved the defendant, Chandler, who initially pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the Supreme Court. Chandler was also charged with separate offences of armed robbery, which were to be tried by a jury in the District Court. The armed robbery trial was aborted due to publicity surrounding the circumstances of the manslaughter offence. The court was faced with the task of determining whether a temporary non-publication order concerning the manslaughter proceedings should continue after the verdicts were returned in the armed robbery trial.

The legal issues before the court included the balancing of the defendant's right to a fair trial in the armed robbery proceedings against the need to protect the integrity of the criminal justice system from prejudicial publicity. The court also had to consider the appropriate duration of any non-publication order and the impact of lifting such an order post-verdict in the armed robbery trial on the earlier manslaughter proceedings.

The court found that maintaining a temporary non-publication order concerning the manslaughter proceedings was necessary to ensure a fair trial in the armed robbery matters. However, it was determined that the order should be lifted once the verdicts in the armed robbery trial were returned, to avoid undue prejudice to the defendant in the subsequent manslaughter proceedings. The court emphasised the importance of the principle of open justice, while also recognising the need to manage prejudicial publicity in complex criminal cases involving multiple offences.

No specific final orders were provided in the excerpt, but the court's decision indicated that the temporary non-publication order would be lifted after the verdicts in the armed robbery trial were delivered.

Orders