R v Warwick (No.41)
[2018] NSWSC 1287
•17 August 2018
Supreme Court
New South Wales
- Amendment notes
Medium Neutral Citation: R v Warwick (No.41) [2018] NSWSC 1287 Hearing dates: 17 August 2018 Date of orders: 17 August 2018 Decision date: 17 August 2018 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: Garling J Decision: Certificate dated 15 August 1985 admitted pursuant to s 57 of the Evidence Act 1995 and marked as Exh 73
Catchwords: EVIDENCE – relevance – provisional relevance – certificate relating to carpet and cardboard taken from crime scene – admitted provisionally pursuant to Evidence Act 1995, s 57 Legislation Cited: Evidence Act 1995 Cases Cited: Not Applicable Texts Cited: Not Applicable Category: Procedural and other rulings Parties: The Crown
Leonard John Warwick (Accused)Representation: Counsel:
Solicitors:
K McKay / G Christofi (Crown)
A R Conolly / E Ramsay (Accused)
Director of Public Prosecutions (Crown)
A R Conolly & Co (Accused)
File Number(s): 2015/222068 Publication restriction: Not Applicable
EX TEMPORE Judgment (T.1779)
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Application is made by the Crown to tender a Certificate dated 15 August 1985 signed by RJ Goetz, forensic biologist, of the Division of Forensic Medicine (“DFM”) at Glebe. The Accused objects to its admission into evidence.
The Proposed Exhibit
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The Certificate contains the results of testing carried out on what appeared to be bloodstains by Mr Goetz at the DFM upon a piece of cardboard and a piece of carpet. There is no dispute that such testing was within the skill and competence of Mr Goetz and the DFM.
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The Certificate records a number "FS 85/306" which, by reference to the material in Exh T14, I am satisfied is a number allocated by the DFM to items received by it on 24 July 1985. These items, which consisted of a piece of carpet and some cardboard, had been delivered by Mr Raymond Constable, a former Constable attached to the Ballistics Unit of the New South Wales Police, to the DFM.
Evidence Tendered
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The Crown tendered a bundle of documents which was marked Exh T14 to establish, pursuant to s 57 of the Evidence Act 1995, the provisional relevance of the proposed exhibit and, hence, its admissibility. Those documents traced the movement of the cardboard and carpet items from the Ballistics Unit to the DFM, and the receipt and processing of those items by the DFM, including the allocation of the number 85/306 to the work done and the items examined.`
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The exhibit has not been admitted in evidence in the trial, but used for the limited purpose just identified. The Crown has indicated that it proposes to adduce the substance of Exh T14 into evidence at the trial in due course.
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I am satisfied by the material in Exh T14 that these items were marked by either Mr Goetz or an employee of the DFM with that number "FS 85/306" and were the subject of examination.
Relevance
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The Certificate is tendered for the purpose of being used by the current witness, Mr Sheather, to assist in the recognition of an item of cardboard and an item of carpet which he has relatively recently inspected, as well as photographs of those items, so as to enable the photographs and the items to be tendered as exhibits in these proceedings. These items are relevant to the counts on the Indictment relating to Event 7, the bombing of the Kingdom Hall.
Discernment
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I am satisfied that the Certificate which is to be tendered is provisionally relevant to the issues in the trial on the basis of the material in Exh T14, being evidence the Crown intends to lead. In particular, it appears that the DFM allocated the number FS 85/306 to items received from Mr Constable relevant to the Kingdom Hall bombing. The records demonstrate that the items were received and tested. The items inspected recently have the same serial number written on them. All of the items in Exh T14 point in that direction.
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It is reasonably open to the Court to find that the Certificate relates to the items taken from the site of the Kingdom Hall explosion by the current witness, Mr Sheather, at that time a Detective Sergeant, and delivered by him to Mr Constable for further delivery to the DFM.
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It follows that I am satisfied that the Certificate ought be admitted provisionally pursuant to s 57 of the Evidence Act. My determination of the relevance of this exhibit is provisional because it depends upon the Court making findings based on the evidence contained in Exh T14 which the Crown intends to lead in due course.
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Accordingly, the Certificate dated 15 August 1985 will, pursuant to this ruling, be admitted pursuant to s 57 of the Evidence Act and marked as Exh 73.
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Amendments
31 August 2018 - Addition of transcript reference.
Decision last updated: 31 August 2018
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