R v CPR [2009] NSWDC 219

Reported Decision : 9 DCLR (NSW) 362

New South Wales District Court

CITATION: R v CPR [2009] NSWDC 219

HEARING DATE(S): 10-13 August 2009

JUDGMENT DATE: 19 August 2009

JURISDICTION: Criminal

JUDGMENT OF: Goldring DCJ

DECISION: The applicant have a certificate pursuant to the Costs in Criminal Cases Act 1967 s 2

CATCHWORDS: CRIMINAL LAW - Costs - whether reasonable to institute proceedings - credit of complainant

LEGISLATION CITED: Costs in Criminal Cases Act 1967

Ramskogler v The Director of Public Prosecutions of New South Wales [1995] NSWSC 110 Mordaunt v DPP [2007] NSWCA 121 CASES CITED: R v Manley (2000) 49 NSWLR 203 R v Murray (1987) 11 NSWLR 12 Longman v The Queen (1989) 168 CLR 79

PARTIES: Crown CPR (Applicant)

FILE NUMBER(S): 2009/2855 Wollongong

COUNSEL: D Williams, solicitor (Crown) H Dhanji (Applicant)

SOLICITORS: NSW DPP Ramsey Moloney Solicitors, Byron Bay

JUDGMENT Costs Application

1 After a relatively short trial, a jury found the applicant not guilty of three counts of sexual intercourse with a child under 10 and one count of committing an act of indecency on a child under 16. The alleged offences were stated to have been committed between 1 January 1999 and 31 January 2000, although when the charges were laid, the allegation was that the offences were committed during the calendar year 2000. The jury reached its verdicts after about half an hour of consideration. Thereupon Mr Dhanji, for the applicant, made this application for a certificate under the Costs in Criminal Cases Act 1967, the relevant parts of which read as follows: 2 Certificate may be granted (1) The Court or Judge or Magistrate in any proceedings relating to any offence, whether punishable summarily or upon indictment, may: (a) where, after the commencement of a trial in the proceedings, a defendant is acquitted or discharged in relation to the offence concerned, or a direction is given by the Director of Public Prosecutions that no further proceedings be taken, or (b) where, on appeal, the conviction of the defendant is quashed and: (i) the defendant is discharged as to the indictment upon which he or she was convicted, or (ii) the information or complaint upon which the defendant was convicted is dismissed, grant to that defendant a certificate under this Act, specifying the matters referred to in section 3 and relating to those proceedings. 3 Form of certificate (1) A certificate granted under this Act shall specify that, in the opinion of the Court or Judge or Magistrate granting the certificate: (a) if the prosecution had, before the proceedings were instituted, been in possession of evidence of all the relevant facts , it would not have been reasonable to institute the proceedings, and (b) that any act or omission of the defendant that contributed, or might have contributed, to the institution or continuation of the proceedings was reasonable in the circumstances.