R v Jarratt

[2019] NSWDC 300

District Court

New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation:	R v Jarratt [2019] NSWDC 300
Hearing dates:	3 July 2019
Date of orders:	03 July 2019
Decision date:	04 July 2019
Jurisdiction:	Criminal
Before:	Mahony SC DCJ
Decision:	Crown allowed to adduce hearsay evidence
Catchwords:	Hearsay; complaint evidence
Legislation Cited:	Evidence Act 1995
Cases Cited:	R v Bauer [2018] HCA 40 R v Brooks (No. 3) [2017] NSWSC 261 R v XY [2010] NSWCCA 181
Category:	Procedural and other rulings
Parties:	Director of Public Prosecutions (Crown) John Jarratt (Accused)
Representation:	Counsel: J Bowers (Crown) G James QC/D McMahon (Accused)   Solicitors: Murphy Lawyers
File Number(s):	18/262210
Publication restriction:	NB s 578A(2) of the Crimes Act 1900 applies to this matter – no publication of any matter which identifies the complainant or may lead to the identification of the complainant.

Judgment ON ADMISSIBILITY OF EVIDENCE

1. During the Crown case on 3 July 2019, the Crown indicated that it intended to call Mr Peter Grainger to give evidence in accordance with a statement made by him to police on 27 December 2017. That statement was marked for identification as MFI 6.

2. The accused objected to the Crown adducing evidence from Mr Grainger on the basis that it was hearsay evidence, and could not be adduced as evidence of the truth of its contents. The Crown sought to adduce the evidence as an exception to the hearsay rule in s 59 of the Evidence Act 1995, pursuant to s 66 of the Evidence Act.

The nature of the evidence

3. The trial concerns an allegation brought by the complainant KVW that the accused, John Jarratt, raped her in 1976. It is unnecessary to recount details of the allegation for the purpose of this ruling.

4. The Crown opened its case to the jury on the basis that in the late 1970’s the complainant was in a relationship with Mr Peter Grainger, and that he will give evidence that during a period in the late 1970’s the complainant introduced him to the accused and his wife and he met them on an occasion when the complainant and Mr Grainger visited them at a house they were living in on Scotland Island. The Crown further told the jury that Mr Grainger would give evidence that around the time of that visit, the complainant spoke to him about Mr Jarrett and told him that the accused had sexually assaulted or raped her, and that it had happened before her relationship with Mr Grainger began.

5. The complainant, KVW, had given evidence in the trial and been cross‑examined. No evidence was adduced from her as to any conversation she had with Mr Grainger about the allegation she makes against the accused.

6. Mr Grainger’s statement (MFI 6) sets out the substance of the evidence to which the Crown referred in its opening, including the substance of the evidence of the complaint by KVW to him about the accused sexually assaulting or raping her, prior to relationship starting.

The accused’s submissions

7. Learned…