R (Cth) v Seguel [2024] NSWCCA 37

Court of Criminal Appeal Supreme Court New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: R (Cth) v Seguel [2024] NSWCCA 37 Hearing dates: 21 February 2023 Date of orders: 15 March 2024 Decision date: 15 March 2024 Before: Wilson J at [1] Ierace J at [86] Cavanagh J at [87] Decision: (1) Appeal allowed; (2) Orders of the District Court of 24 November 2023 excluding certain evidence at trial are set aside; (3) Admit the evidence (as summarised at [16] – [29] of these reasons) at the respondent's forthcoming trial. Catchwords: CRIME – appeal against interlocutory order – Crown appeal under s 5F Criminal Appeal Act 1912 (NSW) – offence of attempting to possess a marketable quantity of an unlawfully imported border control drug – preliminary question of jurisdiction – whether exclusion of evidence "substantially weakens" Crown case – evidence excluded by trial judge as tendency evidence – where Crown does not rely upon evidence as tendency evidence - whether evidence goes to the respondent's state of mind – whether evidence relevant for other uses – evidence available to rebut defence case – question of unfair prejudice – capacity for directions to cure unfairness Legislation Cited: Criminal Appeal Act 1912 (NSW) Criminal Code (Cth) Evidence Act 1995 (NSW) Cases Cited: CA v R [2017] NSWCCA 324 Elomar v R [2014] NSWCCA 303 Gilbert v The Queen (2000) 201 CLR 414; [2000] HCA 15 Hamilton (a pseudonym) v R (2021) 274 CLR 531; [2021] HCA 33 Harriman v The Queen (1989) 167 CLR 59 JWM v R (2014) 245 A Crim R 538; [2014] NSWCCA 248 La Rocca v R [2021] NSWCCA 116 Nessim v R [2016] VSCA 46 Quach v R (2002) 137 A Crim R 345 Qualtieri v R [2006] NSWCCA 95 R v Etherington (1982) 32 SASR 230 R v Garner (1963) 81 WN (Pt. 1) (NSW) R v Rhodes [1899] 1 QB 77 Shaw v The Queen (1952) 85 CLR 365 The Queen v Bauer (a pseudonym) (2018) 266 CLR 56 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Rex (Commonwealth) (Applicant) Seguel (Respondent) Representation: Counsel: R Ranken (Applicant) B Nield SC / B Royce (Respondent)