R v Vincent [2002] NSWCCA 110

New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal

CITATION : R v Vincent [2002] NSWCCA 110 FILE NUMBER(S) : CCA 60728/01 HEARING DATE(S) : 2 April 2002 JUDGMENT DATE : 2 April 2002

PARTIES : R v Thomas Anthony Vincent JUDGMENT OF : Heydon JA at 1, 25; Studdert J at 23; Levine J at 24

LOWER COURT JURISDICTION : District Court LOWER COURT FILE NUMBER(S) : 98/11/0255 LOWER COURT JUDICIAL Hosking DCJ OFFICER :

COUNSEL : Mr P G Ingram (Crown) Mr P Byrne SC (Respondent) SOLICITORS : S E O'Connor (Crown) The Law Practice (Respondent) CATCHWORDS : Court of Criminal Appeal - jurisdiction - Criminal Appeal Act 1912 (NSW) s 5F - provision conferring jurisdiction to hear appeals from interlocutory orders - whether orders below interlocutory or final - meaning of words "I discharge the accused" - whether distinction between discharge and acquittal - autrefois acquit LEGISLATION CITED : Criminal Appeal Act 1912 DECISION : Appeal dismissed

IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEAL CCA 60728/01 DC 98/11/0255

HEYDON JA STUDDERT J LEVINE J

2 April 2002

REGINA v Thomas Anthony VINCENT Judgment

1 HEYDON JA: This is a Crown appeal purportedly from an order of Hosking DCJ, SC, made on 23 October 2001 discharging the accused. 2 This matter has been before the courts on many occasions but it is not necessary to set out any part of the chronology except the following. 3 On 16 February 1997 a dwelling at 1A Tara St Woollahra was damaged following an explosion. The Crown alleged that the accused and one Max Gibson deliberately caused the explosion. The accused was arrested on that day. Initially bail was refused but later granted on conditions. 4 On 4 June 2001, after several attempts to start a trial had failed, a trial commenced before Judge Stewart in the District Court. There were two counts. The first was: "On 16 February 1997 at Woollahra in the State of New South Wales the accused Thomas Anthony Vincent did maliciously damage a dwelling the property of Cascade Holdings Pty Ltd and Drulara Pty Ltd by means of fire".