R v Al Batat & Ors (No 1) [2020] NSWSC 967

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: R v Al Batat & Ors (No 1) [2020] NSWSC 967 Hearing dates: 20, 21, 22 July 2020 Date of orders: 29 July 2020 Decision date: 29 July 2020 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: Hamill J Decision: Pseudonym, suppression and non-publication orders made. Application to close the court refused. One AVL order made. See paragraph [36]. Catchwords: CRIMINAL LAW – murder and attempted murder – drug deal gone wrong – a glitch or two – informant witnesses – suppression orders – application for court to be closed – whether orders necessary – statutory test – whether witnesses to give evidence by AVL – deficiencies in evidence – coronavirus – COVID-19 – restricted numbers in courtroom – special provisions in legislation Legislation Cited: Court Suppression and Non-publication Orders Act 2010 (NSW) Evidence (Audio and Audio Visual Links) Act 1998 (NSW) Cases Cited: Antov v Bokan (No 2) [2019] NSWCA 250 Attorney-General for NSW v Nationwide News Pty Ltd (2007) 73 NSWLR 635 Commissioner of Taxation v Oswal (No 5) [2015] FCA 1504 Fairfax Digital Australia & New Zealand Pty Ltd v Ibrahim (2012) 83 NSWLR 52; [2012] NSWCCA 125 Hogan v Australian Crime Commission (2010) 240 CLR 651; [2010] HCA 21 John Fairfax Publications Pty Ltd & Anor v District Court of New South Wales (2004) 61 NSWLR 344; [2004] NSWCA 324 KN v R [2017] NSWCCA 249 Nationwide News Pty Limited v Qaumi (2016) 93 NSWLR 384; [2016] NSWCCA 97 New South Wales Commissioner of Police v Nationwide News Pty Ltd & Anor (2007) 70 NSWLR 643; [2007] NSWCA 366 R v Hutchison & Wilkinson [2018] NSWSC 1759 R v Kwok & Ors (2005) 64 NSWLR 335; [2005] NSWCCA 245 R v Qaumi & Ors (AVL) [2015] NSWSC 1711 R v Qaumi & Ors (No 13) [2016] NSWSC 337 R v Qaumi & Ors (No 15) (Non-publication order) [2016] NSWSC 318 R v Qaumi & Ors (No 50) [2016] NSWSC 1036 R v Qaumi & Ors (No 9) [2016] NSWSC 171 R v Qaumi & Qaumi (No 8) [2016] NSWSC 1730 Rinehart v Welker [2011] NSWCA 403 Scott v Scott [1913] AC 417 Category: Procedural and other rulings Parties: Regina Commissioner of Police Abdallah Hassan Al Batat Ying Cheng Luo Ian Fan Jaiyu Liu Jacob Blake Bayliss Nai An Li Witness A Witness B [Redacted] Representation: Counsel: P Hogan (Crown) J Emmett (Commissioner of Police) B Rigg SC (Al Batat) R Webb (Luo) T Quilter (Fan) N Carroll (Liu) A Norrie (Bayliss) D Carroll (Li)