R v Officer A (No 4) [2022] NSWSC 1395

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: R v Officer A (No 4) [2022] NSWSC 1395 Hearing dates: 12 October 2022 Date of orders: 12 October 2022 Decision date: 17 October 2022 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: Beech-Jones CJ at CL Decision: (1) The evidence of the training instruction given to the accused including his performance in relation to the two scenarios identified by Superintendent Southern will be admitted save that there will not be any reference in any oral evidence or written document proposed to be tendered to s 303 of the Crimes (Administration of Sentence) Regulation 2014; (2) Direct the Crown not to open its case by suggesting that any aspect of the accused's performance when trained was unsatisfactory although it may identify what it contends was the knowledge the accused acquired from his training; (3) Reserve to the accused liberty to apply for a direction to be given to the jury at the time the evidence the subject of this ruling is adduced that the jury may only have regard to the evidence in determining what instruction was given to the accused and the likelihood that he understood that instruction and not for any other reason. Catchwords: EVIDENCE – murder – accused correctional officer charged with murder following shooting of escaping prisoner – whether accused believed on reasonable grounds it was necessary to discharge a firearm to prevent the escape of the deceased – previous training participated in by accused – training scenario involving threat from unarmed inmate – accused advised that his response of shooting inmate was unsatisfactory – relevance of different scenario to the events charged – potential prejudice – whether jury might engage in tendency reasoning by concluding that the accused was "trigger happy" – evidence admitted – accused given liberty to apply for direction addressing potential prejudice. Legislation Cited: Crimes (Administration of Sentences) Act 1999 (NSW) Crimes (Administration of Sentences) Regulation 2014 (NSW) Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) Evidence Act 1995 Cases Cited: R v Officer A (No 1) [2022] NSWSC 1362 R v Officer A (No 2) [2022] NSWSC 1381 Category: Procedural rulings Parties: Rex (Crown) Officer A (Accused) Representation: Counsel: Ms S Dowling SC; Ms S Lind; Ms V Chan (Crown) Mr P Strickland SC; Ms S Palaniappan; Mr I McLaughlan (Accused)