R v Williamson

[2009] QSC 434

SUPREME COURT OF QUEENSLAND

CITATION:	R v Williamson [2009] QSC 434
PARTIES:	THE QUEEN (respondent) V JAMIE WILLIAM WILLIAMSON (applicant)
FILE NO/S:	Indictment No 783 of 2008
DIVISION:	Trial Division
PROCEEDING:	Application under section 590AA Criminal Code
ORIGINATING
COURT:	Brisbane
DELIVERED ON:	25 February 2009
DELIVERED AT:	Brisbane
HEARING DATE:	19 & 20 February 2009
JUDGE:	Byrne SJA
ORDER:	The Application is refused.
CATCHWORDS:	CRIMINAL LAW – EVIDENCE – JUDICIAL DISCRETION TO ADMIT OR EXCLUDE EVIDENCE – ILLEGALLY OBTAINED EVIDENCE – GENERALLY – where indictment charging accused with trafficking – where crown relies on evidence obtained through emergent search – where accused applies pursuant to s 590AA of the Criminal Code 1899 for ruling that evidence obtained in emergent search is inadmissible – whether police officer reasonably suspected items on property might be concealed or destroyed unless immediate entry was gained – whether discretion should be exercised to exclude evidence of items recovered during emergent search
ss 160 and 162 Police Powers & Responsibilities Act 2000
Bunning v Cross (1977) 126 CLR 321 Herring v United States USSC 14 January 2009 No 07-513 R v Stead [1994] 1 Qd R 665 Ridgeway v The Queen (1995) 184 CLR 19
COUNSEL:	Mr B W Farr SC for the applicant Mr B J Power for the respondent
SOLICITORS:	Guest Lawyers for the applicant
Director of Public Prosecutions (Queensland) for the respondent

1. The applicant is to stand trial on serious drug charges, including carrying on a business of unlawfully trafficking in Methylamphetamine, 3,4 - Methylenedioxymethamphetamine, and cannabis sativa.

2. Invoking the Bunning v Cross (1978) 141 CLR 59 discretion, the applicant seeks the exclusion of evidence about things police officers found inside storage Sheds 20 and 28 at Eyre Street, Wilsonton.

3. Inside Shed 20 was about $4000 in cash, a small quantity of cocaine, more than five kilograms of high grade cannabis packaged for sale in a variety of weights, tablets and substances containing more than 200 grams of Methylamphetamine, 1500 light brown tablets containing in excess of 26 grams of Methylenedioxyethylamphetamine and more than 80 grams of Methylenedioxymethamphetamine, cannabis seeds, a .45 calibre pistol, ammunition and electronic scales (weights are estimated pure).

4. In Shed 28, more than $500,000 in cash was discovered.

5. Largely as a result of surveillance, by 4 December 2006 the police suspected that Shed 20 contained things evidencing illegal drug activity.

6. Detective Sergeant Lange became involved in the investigation on 28 November 2006. He was soon suspicious about the contents of Shed 20.

7. The applicant’s co-accused, Shane Laurie, was known to be closely associated with the applicant. The applicant was believed to have bragged about making his first million dollars through selling drugs.

8. At about 10.30 a.m. on 4 December 2006, Laurie was detected by a surveillance unit at Bridge Street, Toowoomba, conducting a suspicious transaction with a woman. Both decamped. Soon afterwards, he was seen in a public telephone booth, apparently in animated conversation on the phone. Lange, as he wrote later that day when applying, successfully, to a…