R v DAW [2021] NSWDC 5

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: R v DAW [2021] NSWDC 5 Hearing dates: 18-19 January 2021 Date of orders: 19 January 2021 Decision date: 19 January 2021 Jurisdiction: Criminal Before: Abadee DCJ Decision: See paragraphs 42, 56, and 98 Catchwords: CRIMINAL LAW – historical child sexual offences – alleged sexual offences against accused's daughter – evidence – admissibility of verbal admissions of accused to police officer in course of attempted self-harm – whether admissions made in response to "questioning" by police – written admissions contained in notebook seized by police as part of, or incidental to, 'suicide note' by the accused – whether probative value of admissions outweighed by danger of unjust prejudice CRIMINAL LAW – expert opinion evidence – evidence of forensic psychologist regarding behavioural patterns of victims of child sexual abuse, including incest – relevance of evidence – whether 'specialised knowledge' – whether opinion evidence is exception to 'credibility rule' – whether appropriate to limit use of evidence – whether evidence must be excluded having regard to danger of unfair prejudice Legislation Cited: Crimes Act 1900 (NSW), ss 61C, 61D, 66EA, 67, 69, 78A Criminal Procedure Act 1986 (NSW), ss 281 Evidence Act 1995 (Cth), s 79 Evidence Act 1995 (NSW), ss 55, 79, 80, 90, 102, 108, 137, 138, 139, 192A Mental Health Act 2007 (NSW) Cases Cited: Aytugrul v the Queen (2012) 247 CLR 170 Clark v Ryan (1960) 103 CLR 486 HG v The Queen (1999) 197 CLR 414 Honeysett v The Queen (2014) 253 CLR 122 MA v The Queen [2013] VSCA 20 R v Chin (1985) 157 CLR 671 R v Dickman (2017) 261 CLR 601 R v Helmhout (2001) 125 A Crim R 257 R v Naa (2009) 76 NSWLR 271 Texts Cited: S Odgers, Uniform Evidence Law (15th ed), Thomson Reuters The Final Report, Uniform Evidence Law (ALRC Report 102), 8 February 2006 Category: Procedural rulings Parties: Director of Public Prosecutions Mr DAW Representation: Counsel: Mr J Stanhope for the Director of Public Prosecutions Ms R Court for the accused Solicitors: Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions Absolve Legal for the accused File Number(s): 2018/81157 Publication restriction: Non Publication Order on the name of the complainant, and any information that may identify the complainant.