The State of Western Australia v Christie

The case of The State of Western Australia v Christie is a decision of McKechnie J in the Supreme Court of Western Australia. The accused, Rory Kirk Christie, had been convicted of the murder of his wife, Susan Christie, and was appealing against his conviction and sentence. The appeal was successful, leading to a retrial. The present case concerns two witness summonses issued by the accused, seeking various materials from the Commissioner of Police. The Commissioner opposed the summonses on a number of grounds, including relevance and public interest immunity. The court found that while a legitimate forensic purpose had been shown in respect of some of the materials, the public interest in maintaining the effectiveness of the police outweighed the need for disclosure in respect of other materials. The court allowed the accused's legal advisers to inspect the material but prohibited disclosure to anyone else without further order.