R v Smith [2020] NSWSC 1577

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: R v Smith [2020] NSWSC 1577 Hearing dates: 9 November 2020 Date of orders: 10 November 2020 Decision date: 10 November 2020 Jurisdiction: Common Law - Criminal Before: Harrison J Decision: The Crown's applications are refused Catchwords: CRIMINAL PROCEDURE – evidence – where Crown application to lead evidence of an alleged admission – where conversation not recorded – where police offices not wearing body cameras – where Crown bears onus of establishing reasonable excuse for lack of recording – where onus not discharged – where application for admission into evidence rejected – whether Court should refuse to admit evidence of an alleged admission as being unfair to the accused – whether circumstances in which representation given make it unlikely to be a fabrication or highly probable that it is reliable Legislation Cited: Criminal Procedure Act 1986 (NSW) Evidence Act 1995 (NSW) Category: Procedural and other rulings Parties: Regina (Crown) Justin Shawn John Smith (Accused) Representation: Counsel: B Campbell (Crown) J Watts (Accused)

Solicitors: Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (Crown) Aboriginal Legal Service (NSW/ACT) (Accused) File Number(s): 2019/4224 Publication restriction: Nil

Judgment 1. HIS HONOUR: Justin Smith is on trial for the murder of Luke Freeman who was stabbed by Mr Smith on 5 January 2019 and who died the following day in John Hunter Hospital from complications related to his wounds. A series of evidentiary issues have arisen for determination before the trial proceeds further. These are dealt with in what follows.