Police v Brown and Sankovic [2009] NSWLC 24

Local Court of New South Wales

CITATION: Police v Brown and Sankovic [2009] NSWLC 24

JURISDICTION: Criminal

NSW Police PARTIES: Brown Sankovic

FILE NUMBER:

PLACE OF HEARING: Blacktown Local Court

DATE OF DECISION: 01/30/2009

MAGISTRATE: Magistrate Brown

CATCHWORDS: Hinder discovery of evidence

LEGISLATION CITED: Crimes Act 1900, s 315(1)(b)

Leonard v Morris (1975) 10 SASR 528; CASES CITED: R v El-Zeyat [2002] NSWCCA 138 The Queen v Taufahema [2007] HCA 11 Worsley v Aitken Taufahema v R [2006] NSWCCA 152

TEXTS CITED:

REPRESENTATION: Sergeant Parker for the Prosecutor Mr Warwick for the Defendants

ORDERS:

IN THE LOCAL COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES

Reasons for Decision

Police v Brown and Sankovic Blacktown Local Court

[1] To a very large degree, the facts in this matter are not in dispute. On the night of the 13th of July 2008, a gentleman by the name of John Scanlon was riding a motorcycle belonging to the Banditos motorcycle club on Stoddart Road in Blacktown. It appears that, in the course of that ride, he was shot by a person or persons presently unidentified. He was conveyed by some means to the home of Danny Sande, the club president, in Seven Hills where he was treated by ambulance officers and subsequently conveyed to hospital. His motorcycle was left at or near the scene of the shooting. [2] The defendants, Mr Brown and Mr Sankovic, were summoned to the club president's home. They were instructed to recover the motorcycle that Mr Scanlon had been riding and they set off in a ute to the area of Stoddart Road with that intention. [3] By the time they arrived at Stoddart Road, the police had been alerted to the shooting, and had closed both ends of Stoddart Road, with the intention of searching that area for any material that might provide evidence. [4] It would appear that Mr Brown and Mr Sankovic were not provided with registration details for the motorcycle. However, it was Mr Brown's uncontested evidence that the motorcycles of the Banditos club were quite distinctive in their handgrips, footrests and other accessories. It is also apparent that, by the time Mr Brown and Mr Sankovic reached Stoddart Road, the police had not located the motorcycle in question and they too had no idea of its registration details. [5] After some conversation with police officers, the details of which I will return to, and without entering the closed off area of Stoddart Road, the defendants proceeded to search the surrounding area and located a Banditos motorcycle in the parking lot of a nearby McDonald's restaurant. They loaded the motorcycle onto the back of their ute, secured it, and proceeded to drive back towards the club president's house at Seven Hills. In the course of this journey they were stopped by police. [6] The defendants were each charged under s 315(1)(b) of the Crimes Act 1900, which relevantly provides: "315 Hindering investigation etc (1) A person who does anything intending in any way to hinder: … (b) the discovery of evidence concerning a serious indictable offence committed by another person, or … is liable to imprisonment for 7 years. (2) For the purposes of subsection (1), a person is to be considered to have committed a serious indictable offence if a public officer engaged in the detection or investigation of offenders suspects on reasonable grounds that a person has committed the offence. (3) It is not an offence against this section merely to refuse or fail to divulge information or produce evidence."