R v Sinai (No 4) [2021] NSWSC 779

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: R v Sinai (No 4) [2021] NSWSC 779 Hearing dates: 8 June 2021 Decision date: 08 June 2021 Jurisdiction: Common Law - Criminal Before: R A Hulme J Decision: Objections to wife of accused giving evidence pursuant to s 146 of the Criminal Procedure Act 1985 (NSW) and by her to giving evidence pursuant to s 18 of the Evidence Act 1995 (NSW) rejected Catchwords: EVIDENCE – application for exclusion of a witness' evidence under s 146 Criminal Procedure Act 1986 (NSW) – late notice of Crown intention to call important witness – major change in defence case – abysmal defence s 143 disclosure – Crown able to call witness EVIDENCE – s 18 Evidence Act 1995 (NSW) – wife of accused objecting to giving evidence – children of wife and accused residing with the accused's family – established likelihood that harm would or might be caused – harm outweighed by desirability of the evidence – witness compellable Legislation Cited: Criminal Procedure Act 1986 (NSW), s 146(1), s 143 Evidence Act 1995 (NSW), ss 18, 146 Cases Cited: R v A1 (No 2) [2019] NSWSC 663 R v Ah Keni [2020] NSWSC 1848 Category: Procedural rulings Parties: Regina Abraham Sinai Representation: Counsel: Mr S Hughes (Crown) Mr M Tedeschi QC (Accused)

Solicitors: Solicitor for Public Prosecutions Kings Law Group File Number(s): 2019/169513

Judgment 1. HIS HONOUR: Ms Analosa Ah Keni objected to giving evidence for the prosecution in her husband's trial. The defence supported the objection. It went further and objected to her giving any evidence for the prosecution because of a previously undisclosed intention to call her. 2. On 8 June 2021 I announced my ruling that Ms Ah Keni would be compelled to give evidence. The following are my reasons for that ruling.