R v RJ [2023] NSWDC 155

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: R v RJ [2023] NSWDC 155 Hearing dates: 1 May – 16 May 2023 Date of orders: 1 May 2023 Decision date: 01 May 2023 Jurisdiction: Criminal Before: Abadee DCJ Decision: See paragraph 10 Catchwords: EVIDENCE – admissibility of tendency evidence – child sexual offences – accused neutral to application Legislation Cited: Evidence Act 1995 (NSW) ss 97, 97A Cases Cited: Nil Texts Cited: Nil Category: Procedural rulings Parties: Office of the Director for Public Prosecution (ODPP) RJ (accused) Representation: Counsel: Mr A O'Connor for the Crown Mr P Butterfield for the accused

Solicitors: ODPP David Kelly Lawyers for the accused File Number(s): 2019/00305678 Publication restriction: Non-publication of accused's and complainant's names

judgment

Background 1. The accused is charged on indictment of multiple offences of indecent assault and sexual intercourse with a single complainant child, his granddaughter. The 12 charges (some of them alternative charges) arise out of six alleged discrete episodes. The date range from the first to the last of the charges is 1 January 2015 to 1 July 2019. The complainant was aged between 8 or 13 in this overall period. All of the alleged offending is said to have been committed in the accused's home. For all but one of the incidents, it is said that the offending occurred in one of the bedrooms in that home. 2. To prove its case, the Crown has notified the accused of its intention to rely upon tendency evidence. By s 97(1)(b) of the Evidence Act 1995 (NSW), such evidence is not admissible unless the Court thinks that the evidence will, either by itself, or having regard to evidence adduced, or to be adduced by the Crown, has significant probative value. Having regard to the nature of the alleged offences, and their timing, this question is significantly affected by s 97A(2) of the Evidence Act. In particular, these are child sexual offences for the purpose of s 97A(6) of the Evidence Act. 3. The accused is neutral about the application.