R v Al Batat & Ors (No 13); NSW Commissioner of Police v Al Batat [2020] NSWSC 1152

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: R v Al Batat & Ors (No 13); NSW Commissioner of Police v Al Batat [2020] NSWSC 1152 Hearing dates: 11, 18, 22, 24 August 2020 Date of orders: 28 August 2020 Decision date: 28 August 2020 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: Hamill J Decision: (1) Subject to the exceptions set out in orders (2)-(4) below, the claim for public interest immunity over the green redactions in the material produced on subpoena by the NSW Commissioner of Police is upheld. (2) The document at p 154 of MFI 42 is to be produced in unredacted form and access granted to Mr Al Batat's legal representatives. (3) The document at p 156 of MFI 42 is to be produced in unredacted form and access granted to Mr Al Batat's legal representatives. (4) Subject to the redaction of place names and geographical locations, the document(s) at pp 81 and 84 of the Confidential Bundle of 18 August 2020 are to be produced in unredacted form and access granted to Mr Al Batat's legal representatives. (5) Orders (2), (3) and (4) are stayed until Wednesday, 2 September 2020 to allow the NSW Commissioner of Police to consider whether it seeks to appeal against these rulings. Catchwords: CRIMINAL PROCEDURE – evidence - subpoena - dribs and drabs - public interest immunity - informers' rule - balancing exercise - fossicking in a sea of documents Legislation Cited: Evidence Act 1995 (NSW), ss 130, 131A, 133 Cases Cited: Alister v The Queen (1984) 154 CLR 404; [1984] HCA 85 Attorney General (NSW) v Lipton [2012] NSWCCA 156 Attorney General v Stuart (1994) 34 NSWLR 667 Cain v Glass (No 2) (1985) 3 NSWLR 230 Eastman v R (1997) 76 FCR Grey v The Queen [2001] HCA 65; (2001) 75 ALJR 1708 R v Al Batat & Ors (No 1) [2020] NSWSC 967 R v Al Batat & Ors (No 6) [2020] NSWSC 1079 Sankey v Whitlam (1978) 142 CLR 1; [1978] HCA 43 Category: Procedural and other rulings Parties: Regina NSW Commissioner of Police Abdallah Hassan Al Batat Ying Cheng Luo Ian Fan Jaiyu Liu Jacob Blake Bayliss Nai An Li Representation: Counsel: P Hogan (Crown) R Bhalla (Commissioner) B Rigg SC (Al Batat) R Webb (Luo) T Quilter (Fan) N Carroll (Liu) A Norrie (Bayliss) D Carroll (Li)