Wolodymyr Holovinsky v The Commissioner of Police (No 1) [2006] NSWDC 86

New South Wales District Court

CITATION: Wolodymyr Holovinsky v The Commissioner of Police (No 1) [2006] NSWDC 86

HEARING DATE(S): 06/12/2004-09/12/2004,13/12/2004-14/12/2004,16/12/2004-17/12/2004, 07/06/2005-09/06/2005, 15/06/2005, 31/07/2006-25/08/2006, 01/09/2006 EX TEMPORE JUDGMENT DATE : 08/14/2006

JURISDICTION: Civil (Residual Jurisdiction)

JUDGMENT OF: Neilson DCJ at 1

DECISION: Accede to the defendant's application to admit the documents relating to former Detective Senior Constable Robert McDougall

CATCHWORDS: Admission of evidence of witness who refuses to give evidence - Evidence Act 1995, s.67

LEGISLATION CITED: Evidence Act 1995

CASES CITED: Colliers International (NSW) Pty Limited v Ziani Corporation Pty Limited [2006] NSWDC 65

PARTIES: Wolodymyr Holovinsky (Plainitiff) The Commissioner of Police (Defendant)

FILE NUMBER(S): RJ 6454/00

COUNSEL: Mr B Gross QC (Plaintiff) Ms A Stenmark SC and Mr A Kostopoulos (Defendant)

SOLICITORS: Proctor & Associates (Plaintiff) Bartier Perry Solicitors (Defendant)

JUDGMENT

1 HIS HONOUR: The principal application before me is an application by the plaintiff, Mr Fred Holovinsky, for me to set aside a determination of the Commissioner of Police that a certain medical condition suffered by him was not caused by Mr Holovinsky's having been hurt on duty when he was a Sergeant of Police.

2 On 31 December 1990 Mr Holovinsky was charged with certain serious criminal offences. There was then a lengthy committal hearing over a period of two years covering, as I understand it, approximately 95 days, and eventually on 19 November 1993 the learned Magistrate Mr Heagney discharged the plaintiff. The then Director of Prosecutions, Mr R O Blanch, as he then was, next issued an ex officio indictment leading to the plaintiff's and others' being tried in this Court in the exercise of its criminal jurisdiction. The trial went from 8 May 1995 to 29 November 1995, on which date the jury returned verdicts of not guilty in respect of each of the counts against Mr Holovinsky and against all the other accused. Some time subsequently Mr Holovinsky resigned his employment in unusual circumstances and was then certified as having been incapable of discharging the duties of his office as a sergeant of police at the time of his resignation by the Police Superannuation Advisory Committee. He then commenced proceedings in Court to set aside the decision of the Commissioner of Police, to which I have referred, and today is the twenty-second day of that hearing.