REGINA v DOOLAN (No 2) [2010] NSWSC 194

New South Wales Supreme Court

CITATION : REGINA v DOOLAN (No 2) [2010] NSWSC 194

HEARING DATE(S) : 3, 4, 8 and 9 February, 5 and 11 March 2010

JUDGMENT DATE : 18 March 2010

JURISDICTION : Criminal

JUDGMENT OF : Hall J at 1

DECISION : Not guilty by reason of mental illness

CATCHWORDS : CRIMINAL LAW - verdict - judge alone trial - murder - accused not guilty by reason of mental illness - proof of intention to kill - circumstantial evidence case - evidence of state of mind to be inferred from the evidence of the accused's specific acts causing death of infant and not upon any statements by her containing admissions as statements were unreliable and were not cogent evidence

LEGISLATION CITED : Mental Health (Forensic Provisions) Act 1990

Brown v The King (1913) 17 CLR 570 Deery v Deery (1953-1954) 90 CLR 211 Gibbons v Howley [1990] VR 762 (FC) CASES CITED : Pemble v The Queen (1971) 124 CLR 107 Regina v Ciantar (2006) 167 A Crim R 504 Regina v Stokes & Difford (199) 51 A Crim R 25 Regina v Stone (2005) 64 NSWLR 413 S v Recorder of Manchester [1971] AC 481

PARTIES : REGINA v Barbara Ann DOOLAN

FILE NUMBER(S) : SC 2008/20567

COUNSEL : C: P Barnett SC O: L Wells SC

SOLICITORS : C: S Kavanagh O: Aboriginal Legal Aid

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES COMMON LAW DIVISION CRIMINAL LIST

HALL J

THURSDAY 18 MARCH 2010

No 20567 of 2008

REGINA v BARBARA ANN DOOLAN

JUDGMENT (No 2)

HIS HONOUR: 1 The accused was charged on indictment dated 6 February 2009 that on 28 July 2005 she did murder her infant son, Zane Doolan, who was then aged five weeks. 2 On 5 March 2010, I delivered reasons for judgment, the hearing being a judge alone trial. In the judgment, I concluded that the infant victim died by drowning as a result of having been placed face down by the accused in a bathtub and her action in turning on the tap over the bath. 3 As recorded in the judgment of 5 March 2010, the Crown was required to establish beyond reasonable doubt:-