R v Hickson; R v McDonald [2022] NSWSC 1450

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: R v Hickson; R v McDonald [2022] NSWSC 1450 Hearing dates: 24 October 2022 Date of orders: 26 October 2022 Decision date: 26 October 2022 Jurisdiction: Common Law - Criminal Before: Harrison J Decision: (1) Refuse Ms McDonald's application to recall Ms Speering. (2) Grant Ms McDonald's no case application with respect to Count 2. Catchwords: EVIDENCE – accessory after the fact to murder – whether sufficient evidence of actus reus to go to the jury – application to recall witness – whether in the interests of justice to do so Legislation Cited: Evidence Act 1995 (NSW), s 128 Cases Cited: Dawson v The Queen (1961) 106 CLR 1; [1961] HCA 74 Ewan v R [2020] NSWCCA 85 R v Dileski (2002) 132 A Crim R 408; [2002] NSWCCA 345 R v Stanford (Marcus) [2016] NSWSC 1174 Category: Procedural rulings Parties: Rex (Crown) Maddison Hickson (Accused) Taylah Renae McDonald (Accused) Representation: Counsel: B Costello (Crown) P Krisenthal (Accused Hickson) P Rosser KC (Accused McDonald)

Solicitors: Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (Crown) Legal Aid (NSW) (Accused Hickson) Nowland Lawyers (Accused McDonald) File Number(s): 2021/13793; 2021/303481 Publication restriction: Nil

Judgment 1. HIS HONOUR: In advance of the Crown closing its case, the parties require adjudication on some evidentiary issues. These are dealt with in the reasons that follow in no particular order of significance.