Villanueva v State of New South Wales

Villanueva appealed to the Court of Appeal of New South Wales against a decision of the Supreme Court of New South Wales. The appeal concerned the admissibility of a statement under section 63(2) of the *Evidence Act 1995* (NSW) where no notice had been given to the opposing party that the statement was to be tendered.

The primary legal issue before the Court of Appeal was whether the trial judge had erred in admitting the statement into evidence despite the lack of notice, and whether the court possessed a discretion under section 67(4) of the *Evidence Act 1995* (NSW) to admit such a statement even without reasons being provided for its admission.

The Court of Appeal held that section 63(2) of the *Evidence Act 1995* (NSW) requires notice to be given before a statement can be admitted where the maker is unavailable. However, section 67(4) grants the court a discretion to admit such a statement even if the notice requirements of section 63(2) have not been met. The Court found that the trial judge had exercised this discretion, and that there was no error in admitting the statement without providing specific reasons for doing so, as the exercise of discretion itself was not flawed.

The appeal was dismissed, and the appellant was ordered to pay the costs of the appeal.