R v Rice & ors (No 4) [2014] NSWSC 1525

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: R v Rice & ors (No 4) [2014] NSWSC 1525 Hearing dates: 31 October 2014 Decision date: 31 October 2014 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: Bellew J Decision: The tender of the evidence is rejected. Catchwords: CRIMINAL LAW – evidence – where Crown sought to tender evidence of three telephone conversations immediately before closing its case – where evidence had been available for a considerable period beforehand – where Crown on notice of the relevant issues - evidence not previously disclosed to the accused – where counsel for accused had completed cross-examination of the Crown's principal witness – whether procedural unfairness is capable of giving rise to unfair prejudice for the purposes of s. 137 of the Evidence Act – probative value outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice arising from a series of circumstances - evidence rejected Legislation Cited: Evidence Act 1995 Cases Cited: Haoui v R (2008) 188 A Crim R 331; [2008] NSWCCA 209 Papakosmas v R (1999) 196 CLR 297 Category: Procedural rulings Parties: Regina – Crown Colin Ray Rice – Accused Zlatan Popovic – Accused Tevi Koloamatangi – Accused Radomir Vukovic - Accused Representation: Representation Counsel: Mr P Barrett - Crown Mr C Watson – Accused Rice Mr L Brasch – Accused Popovic Ms C Davenport SC – Accused Koloamatangi Mr Pickin – Accused Vukovic