R v Officer A (No 1) [2022] NSWSC 1362

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: R v Officer A (No 1) [2022] NSWSC 1362 Hearing dates: 6 October 2022 Date of orders: 11 October 2022 Decision date: 11 October 2022 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: Beech-Jones CJ at CL Decision: The evidence of John Harrison to the effect that the accused's action were "consistent with" his training is rejected. Catchwords: EVIDENCE – opinion rule – exception for expert opinion – accused is a correctional officer – shot deceased while deceased was escaping from custody – accused charged with murder – whether Crown can disprove existence of lawful excuse – whether accused believed on reasonable grounds that it was necessary to discharge firearm to prevent the escape of the deceased – evidence to be adduced as to accused's training in use of firearms – accused seeks to adduce evidence from training expert that his discharge of fatal shot was consistent with his training – whether expert has "specialised knowledge" based on training, study or experience and, if so, scope – whether opinion of expert substantially based on specialised knowledge – Held – opinion rejected – witness does not have specialised knowledge that would enable him to give opinion about consistency between accused's conduct and the accused's training – witness can give evidence as to the content of the training received by accused Legislation Cited: Crimes (Administration of Sentences Act) Regulation 2014 (NSW) Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) Evidence Act 1995 (NSW) Cases Cited: ASIC v Vines (2003) 48 ACSR 291; [2003] NSWSC 1095 Aziz (a pseudonym) v R [2022] NSWCCA 76 Honeysett v The Queen (2014) 253 CLR 122; [2014] HCA 29 R v Tang (2006) 65 NSWLR 681; [2006] NSWCCA 167 R W Miller & Co Pty Ltd v Krupp (Australia) Pty Ltd (1991) 34 NSWLR 129 State of Western Australia v BW [2021] WASC 326 The Queen v Rolfe (No 4) [2021] NTSC 58 Velevski v The Queen (2002) 76 ALJR 402; [2002] HCA 4 Category: Procedural rulings Parties: Rex (Crown) Officer A (Accused) Representation: Counsel: Mr K McKay SC; Ms S Lind; Ms V Chan (Crown) P Strickland SC; Mr S Russell (Accused)