R v Leung; R v Webster (No. 3) [2022] NSWDC 139

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: R v Leung; R v Webster (No. 3) [2022] NSWDC 139 Hearing dates: 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 18, 19 April 2022 Date of orders: 19 April 2022 Decision date: 19 April 2022 Jurisdiction: Criminal Before: Neilson DCJ Decision: I reject the tender of pars 20, 21, 23, 24 and 27 of the statement of Senior Constable Grogin which bears date 28 March 2022 in Exhibit VD1 Catchwords: CRIME – VOIR DIRE – EXPERT EVIDENCE – ADMISSIBILITY - PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE – Prosecutorial duty of disclosure – Officer in Charge of the investigation of the accused qualified themself as a "drug expert" – impartiality of "drug expert" – whether Officer in Charge can qualify themselves as a "drug expert" in the investigation in which they assist in the prosecution of the accused – Regardless, the Officer in Charge does not have the requisite experience to qualify as a "drug expert" – Failure to disclose reasoning process. Legislation Cited: Evidence Act 1995 (NSW) Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW) Cases Cited: Keller v R [2006] NSWCCA 204 R v Leung; R v Webster (No. 1) [2022] NSWDC 137 R v Sharpe (No 2) [2021] NSWSC 32 Texts Cited: Nil. Category: Procedural rulings Parties: R – Crown First Accused – Canny Leung Second Accused – Cameron Stewart Webster Representation: Counsel: Crown – Nightingale, K First Accused– Boe, A and O'Neill, C. Second Defendant – Ramrakha, T. Solicitors: Crown – Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions First Accused – Nyman Gibson Miralis Defence Lawyers and Advisors Second Accused – LegalAid File Number(s): 2019/276597; 2019/276599 Publication restriction: Nil.