R v Eliot (No. 1)

District Court

New South Wales

• Amendment notes

Medium Neutral Citation:

R v Eliot (No. 1) [2022] NSWDC 327

Hearing dates:

1 August 2022

Date of orders:

4 August 2022

Decision date:

04 August 2022

Jurisdiction:

Criminal

Before:

Grant DCJ

Decision:

I exclude the evidence obtained from the computer of the accused.

Catchwords:

CRIMINAL PROCEDURE – evidence – s 138 of the Evidence Act 1995 – improperly obtained evidence – conspiracy to murder – conduct of law enforcement officers – inconsistent with the minimum standards society should expect – vulnerable accused – public interest in admitting relevant evidence – desirability of admitting the evidence does not outweigh the undesirability

Legislation Cited:

Evidence Act 1995

Cases Cited:

Bunning v Cross (1978) 141 CLR 54

Pearse v Pearse (1846) 63 ER 950

R v Coulstock (1998) 99 A Crim R 143

Ridgeway v The Queen (1995) 184 CLR 19

Robinson v Woolworths Limited (2005) 60 NSWLR 612

Category:

Procedural rulings

Parties:

Regina (Crown)
Thomas Eliot (a pseudonym) (Accused)

Representation:

Counsel:
Mr P Kerr (Crown)
Ms C Mendes (Accused)

Solicitors:
Solicitor for the Director of Public Prosecutions
Legal Aid Commission

File Number(s):

2020/00222503

Publication restriction:

Pursuant to section 7 of the Court Suppression and Non-Publication Orders Act 2010, there be no publication, except for the proper conduct of these proceedings, of:
a. The city in which the school is located and any information that would tend to identify the city;
b. The name of the school and any information that would tend to identify the school;
c. The defendant’s plan for the carrying out of the attack including, but not limited to:
i. The date of the attack
ii. The existence of persons who were also involved in the planning of the attack
iii. The planning undertaken by the defendant and any associates in preparing for the attack
iv. The year group or age of the students to be targeted by the attack
v. The method of attacking students to be used by the defendant

JUDGMENT

Introduction

1. Thomas Eliot has pleaded not guilty to conspiring with William Yeats (a pseudonym) between 1 June 2020 and 30 June 2022 to murder John Keats (a pseudonym) and other people. He has pleaded not guilty to the alternative count of solicit William Yeats to murder John Keats and others. On 30 June 2020, KT, as a result of what she read in her son's journal, took her son to a hospital in regional New South Wales. The journal expressed wanting to [redacted] his school. He was admitted as a voluntary mental health patient.

2. [Redacted], a mental health nurse, read the journal and out of his concern he contacted police. Senior Constable Michael Blacker, in company with Constable Skinner, attended the hospital and spoke to nurse [redacted] at 4:10pm. Senior Constable Blacker then reviewed the journal. There were a large number of diagrams and notes that detailed a plan “to cause a mass harm incident” at Thomas Eliot’s school. Senior Constable Blacker contacted Sergeant Bosch and Detective Senior…