Sinai v R [2023] NSWCCA 194

Court of Criminal Appeal Supreme Court New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Sinai v R [2023] NSWCCA 194 Hearing dates: 22 March 2023 Date of orders: 9 August 2023 Decision date: 09 August 2023 Before: Beech-Jones CJ at CL at [1] Walton J at [73] Price J at [74] Decision: (1) The applicant be granted leave to appeal against his conviction. (2) The appeal be dismissed. Catchwords: CRIMES — appeals — appeal against conviction — unreasonable verdict — murder — joint criminal enterprise — shooter approached café, shot deceased and escaped to a location where Nissan "Elgrand" van was parked and drove him away from scene — prior to shooting van drove past café and parked several times at same nearby location in East Terrace, Bankstown — applicant's wife drove van and sister-in-law was a passenger — whether it was open to jury to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt of applicant's guilt — evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates shooter received advance notice of deceased's location and made prior arrangements to escape — shooter's escape route after shooting led to exact location on East Terrace where van was parked was deliberate — coincidence in timing between applicant's call to wife and shooter's arrival at van compelling — inference applicant was in the van unavoidable — no significant possibility innocent person has been convicted — leave to appeal granted — appeal dismissed Legislation Cited: Criminal Appeal Act 1912 (NSW) Evidence Act 1995 (NSW) Cases Cited: Barca v The Queen (1975) 133 CLR 82; [1975] HCA 42 M v The Queen (1994) 181 CLR 487; [1994] HCA 63 Peacock v The King (1911) 13 CLR 619; [1911] HCA 66 Plomp v The Queen (1963) 110 CLR 234; [1963] HCA 44 R v Baden-Clay (2016) 258 CLR 308; [2016] HCA 35 R v Keleklio; R v Sinai [2022] NSWSC 62 R v Sinai (No 4) [2021] NSWSC 779 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Abraham Sinai (Applicant) Rex (Respondent) Representation: Counsel: Mr T F Woods (Applicant) Ms M Millward (Respondent)