R v Itani

[2021] NSWDC 26

District Court

New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation:

R v Itani [2021] NSWDC 26

Hearing dates:

25 January 2021 – 12 February 2021

Decision date:

18 February 2021

Jurisdiction:

Criminal

Before:

Mahony SC DCJ

Decision:

Verdict of not guilty

Catchwords:

Armed robbery; joint criminal enterprise

Legislation Cited:

Crimes Act 1900

Criminal Procedure Act 1986

Evidence Act 1995

Cases Cited:

Davidson v R (2009) 75 NSWLR 150; [2009] NSWCCA 150

Domican v The Queen (1992) 173 CLR 555; [1992] HCA 13

Ghani v Jones (1977) 1 QB 693

House v The King (1936) 55 CLR 499; [1936] HCA 40

McAuliffe v The Queen (1995) 183 CLR 108; [1995] HCA 37

R v Baden-Clay (2016) 258 CLR 308; [2016] HCA 35

R v Riley [2020] NSWCCA 283

Shepherd v The Queen (1990) 170 CLR 573; [1990] HCA 56

Category:

Principal judgment

Parties:

Director of Public Prosecutions (Crown)
Khaled Itani (Accused)

Representation:

Counsel:
C Dodds (Crown)
A Moutasallem (Accused)
Solicitors:
R Nezval (Crown)
D Gaudiello (Accused)

File Number(s):

18/360930

Publication restriction:

Nil

index

index

Judgment ON VERDICT

The evidence in the Crown case

Evidence of Mr Tom Andrews

Evidence of Yilmaz Yildiz

Evidence of Satya Kong

Evidence of Constable Jin Choi

Reasons for judgment on the voir dire

Evidence on the Voir Dire

Submissions on behalf of the accused

Submissions on behalf of the Crown

Submissions in reply

Determination

Further evidence in the Crown case – Detective Senior Constable Casey Braz

Evidence of Mr Christopher Preece

Officer in charge recalled

Evidence of Da-Ren Xie

Evidence of Alannah Sheekey

Evidence of Ibrahim Droubi

Evidence of Zahara Michails

Evidence of Cristian Salazar

Evidence of John Phillip Brosnan

Further evidence by the Officer in charge

Evidence of Alice Tran

Evidence of Detective Senior Constable Haithem Jouni

Officer in charge recalled

The Crown address

The address on behalf of the accused

Directions of law

Circumstantial evidence – link in the chain direction

Direction – expert witness evidence

Direction in respect of the accused’s evidence (Liberato Direction)

Direction as to lies by the accused (Zoneff v The Queen)

Direction - the election of the accused not to give evidence

Direction – the good character of the accused

Assessment of witnesses generally

Factual findings

Findings based on the accused’s banking records and expert evidence of Ms Tran

The post-event exculpatory conduct of the accused

Determination

Order

Judgment ON VERDICT

1. On 25 January 2021, the accused pleaded not guilty to one count on the Indictment:

Count 1 – On 2 May 2018 at Belmore in the State of New South Wales, did whilst armed with a dangerous weapon, namely a black pistol, rob Yilmaz Yildiz of $96,315.00, the property of Monarch Hotels Pty Limited (trading as Belmore Hotel)

2. This is an offence pursuant to s 97(2) of the Crimes Act 1900. Both the Crown and the accused person agreed that the accused be tried by judge alone, and an order was made pursuant to s 132(2) of the Criminal Procedure Act 1986 for…