R v Al Batat & Ors (No 12) [2020] NSWSC 1129

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: R v Al Batat & Ors (No 12) [2020] NSWSC 1129 Hearing dates: 20 and 24 August 2020 Date of orders: 26 August 2020 Decision date: 26 August 2020 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: Hamill J Decision: (1) The tendency evidence in paragraph [42] of Ms Sellers' Statement of 29 June 2017 is not admissible. (2) The evidence of the text message sent to Bradley Pattenden on 8 February 2017 is not admissible. (3) The Prosecution will not be permitted to conduct the case on the basis that Mr Bayliss had a tendency to exchange firearms for other items. (4) The evidence in Question 929 of the electronically recorded interview of Mr Bayliss on 24 October 2017 is not admissible. (5) The Prosecution will be permitted to conduct the case on the basis that Mr Bayliss had a tendency to possess firearms at the relevant time. (6) The evidence of Constable Kate McGrath concerning Mr Bayliss's possession of three firearms on 14 February 2017 is admissible, subject to appropriate editing. (7) The evidence in the electronically recorded interview of Mr Bayliss dated 24 October 2017 concerning Mr Bayliss's love of guns and his admissions that he possessed and accumulated firearms is admissible. Catchwords: CRIMINAL LAW – evidence - "I love me guns" - tendency evidence - where accused charged with supplying firearms - whether evidence of a love of guns has significant probative value as tendency evidence - possession of three firearms two weeks after alleged offences - evidence admissible CRIMINAL LAW - evidence – "cute miniature cowboy gun" - tendency evidence - where informant witness to substantive events also gives tendency evidence - assessment of probative value - evidence not admissible CRIMINAL LAW - evidence - tendency evidence - single text messages proposing trade of guns for debt or drugs - probative value - potential prejudice - evidence not admissible Legislation Cited: Evidence Act 1995 (NSW), ss 97 and 101 Criminal Procedure Act 1986 (NSW), s 143 Cases Cited: BRC v R [2020] NSWCCA 176 Hughes v The Queen (2017) 263 CLR 338; [2017] HCA 20 R v Davidson (No 1) [2019] NSWSC 980 IMM v The Queen (2016) 257 CLR 300; [2016] HCA 14 McPhillamy v The Queen [2018] HCA 52; 92 ALJR 1045 R v Al Batat & Ors (No 1) [2020] NSWSC 967 R v Al Batat & Ors (No 3) [2020] NSWSC 1061 Vagg v R [2020] NSWCCA 134 Category: Procedural and other rulings Parties: Regina Abdallah Hassan Al Batat Ying Cheng Luo Ian Fan Jaiyu Liu Jacob Blake Bayliss Nai An Li Representation: Counsel: P Hogan (Crown) B Rigg SC (Al Batat) R Webb (Luo) T Quilter (Fan) N Carroll (Liu) A Norrie (Bayliss) D Carroll (Li)