Doyle v Commissioner of Police (No 4) [2020] NSWCA 290

Court of Appeal Supreme Court New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Doyle v Commissioner of Police (No 4) [2020] NSWCA 290 Hearing dates: 16 November 2020 Decision date: 16 November 2020 Before: Leeming JA Decision: 1. Discharge order 4 made by the Court in its Common Law Division on 20 December 2019 in respect of the laptop known in the proceedings as item 24. 2. To the extent necessary, the undertakings given by the legal practitioners retained by the Commissioner and members of the Digital Forensics Unit which have been provided pursuant to the regime in Doyle v Commissioner of Police (No 3) [2020] NSWCA 240 are discharged. Catchwords: POLICE – search warrant – police seized computer and made copy of hard drive – search warrant invalid – hard drive contained child abuse material – police wishing to investigate child abuse material but presently subject to interlocutory regime – whether discretionary relief for destruction of computer and copy of hard drive should issue – relief refused to owner – police released from restriction Legislation Cited: Evidence Act 1995 (NSW), s 138 Law Enforcement (Powers and Responsibilities) Act 2002 (NSW) Cases Cited: Barbeliuk v NSW Commissioner of Police [2020] HCASL 187 Doyle v Commissioner of Police [2020] NSWCA 11 Doyle v Commissioner of Police (No 2) [2020] NSWCA 34 Doyle v Commissioner of Police (No 3) [2020] NSWCA 240 Smethurst v Commissioner of The Australian Federal Police [2020] HCA 14; 94 ALJR 502 Category: Consequential orders (other than Costs) Parties: Philip William Doyle (First appellant) Mark Barbeliuk (Second appellant) Commissioner of Police (First respondent) Detective Senior Constable Tiffany O'Neill (Second respondent) Deputy Registrar Cally D'Arcy (Third respondent) Representation: Counsel: J Glissan QC, A Moutasallem (Second appellant) P Singleton (First and second respondents)