Bujdoso v State of New South Wales [2004] NSWCA 307

Reported Decision : 151 A Crim R 235

New South Wales Court of Appeal

CITATION : Bujdoso v State of New South Wales [2004] NSWCA 307 HEARING DATE(S) : 30/08/04 JUDGMENT DATE : 10 September 2004

JUDGMENT OF : Sheller JA at 1; Ipp JA at 2; McColl JA at 66 DECISION : (1) Appeal upheld with costs (2) Orders made by the trial judge set aside (3) Declare that the respondent breached the duty of care that it owed the appellant (4) Remit the matter to the District Court for a trial as to damages.

CATCHWORDS : TORT - Negligence - Scope of duty of prison authority to protect the safety of prisoners under its control - Prisoner assaulted by a group of other prisoners - Where prison authority knew that the prisoner was particularly vulnerable to such incidents - Prisoner in low security area - Prison authority relied on trust in work release prisoners and incentives for good behaviour as means of control - Whether degree of supervision of prisoners and protection of the individual prisoner were inadequate. D Ashrafi Persian Trading Co Pty Ltd v Ashrafinia [2002] Aust Torts Reports 81-636 Ellis v Home Office [1953] 2 All ER 149 Howard v Jarvis (1958) 98 CLR 177 CASES CITED : L v Commonwealth of Australia (1976) 10 ALR 269 Ralph v Strutton (1969) 62 Qd R 348 State of New South Wales v Godfrey & Godfrey [2004] NSWCA 113 State of New South Wales v Napier [2002] NSWCA 402 PARTIES : Peter Andrew Bujdoso (Appellant) State of New South Wales (Respondent) FILE NUMBER(S) : CA 41200/03 COUNSEL : J Graves SC/R de Meyrick (Appellant) J E Maconachie QC/P Sternberg (Respondent) SOLICITORS : T D Kelly & Co (Appellant) I V Knight, Crown Solicitor (Respondent)