R v Qaumi & Ors (No 15) (Non-publication order) [2016] NSWSC 318

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: R v Qaumi & Ors (No 15) (Non-publication order) [2016] NSWSC 318 Hearing dates: 7 & 10 March 2016 Date of orders: 24 March 2016 Decision date: 24 March 2016 Jurisdiction: Common Law - Criminal Before: Hamill J Decision: (1) Publication of the evidence and submissions in the present trial is prohibited until the occurrence of one of the events specified in order (2) on the grounds that (a) the order is necessary to prevent prejudice to the proper administration of justice and (e) it is otherwise necessary in the public interest for the order to be made and that public interest significantly outweighs the public interest in open justice. (2) For the purpose of s 12 of the Court Suppression and Non-publication Orders Act 2010 (NSW) the order is continued until the conclusion of the trial of Farhad Qaumi and Mumtaz Qaumi in relation to the murder of Joseph Antoun ("the Antoun trial"), or until any order is made under s 132 Criminal Procedure Act 1986 (NSW) that the Antoun trial is to be tried by judge alone, or until further order. (3) Pursuant to s 11 of the Court Suppression and Non-publication Orders Act 2010 (NSW), the order applies throughout the Commonwealth of Australia. Catchwords: CRIMINAL LAW – non-publication and suppression orders – non-publication of all evidence in first of two sequential trials – back-to-back trials – public interest in open justice – test of necessity – right of accused to fair trial – tension between fundamental principles – common features and unique identifiers between trials – possible alternatives to non-publication orders – predicting nature and extent of media coverage – unlikely to be "anodyne" – tainting of jury pool in second trial – postponing publication Legislation Cited: Court Suppression and Non-Publication Orders Act 2010 (NSW) Criminal Procedure Act 1986 (NSW) Cases Cited: Application by John Fairfax Publications Pty Ltd re MSK, MAK, MMK and MRK [2006] NSWCCA 386 Digital News Media Pty Ltd & Anor v Mokbel & Anor [2010] VSCA 51; 30 VR 248 Fairfax Digital Australia and New Zealand v Ibrahim [2012] NSWCCA 125; 293 ALR 384 Gilbert v The Queen [2000] HCA 15; 201 CLR 414 John Fairfax Publications Pty Ltd & Anor v District Court of New South Wales [2004] NSWCA 324; 61 NSWLR 344 John Fairfax v The Police Tribunal of New South Wales (1986) 5 NSWLR 465 Mr C (1993) 67 A Crim R 562 Nagi v Director of Public Prosecutions (NSW) [2009] NSWCCA 197 R v Abdallah (No 2) [2014] NSWSC 111 R v A, S and M [2005] NSWSC 478 R v Clements (1821) 4 B & A 218; 106 ER 918 R v GSR (1) [2011] NSWDC 14 R v GSR (No 2) [2011] NSWDC 16 R v GSR (No 3) [2011] NSWDC 17 R v Horsham Justices, ex parte Farquharson & Anor [1982] 1 QB 762 R v Jamal [2008] NSWCCA 177; 72 NSWLR 258 R v MAK; R v MSK [2005] NSWCCA 98 R v MAK; R v MSK; R v MMK [2005] NSWCCA 369 R v MSK and MAK [2004] NSWCCA 308; 61 NSWLR 204 R v McNeil [2015] NSWSC 357 R v NK (No 3) [2015] NSWSC 1257 R v Qaumi & Ors (AVL) [2015] NSWSC 1711 R v Qaumi & Ors (No 3) (severance and separate trials) [2016] NSWSC 15 R v Qaumi & Ors (No 8) (Variation of non-publication orders) [2016] NSWSC 184 R v Qaumi & Ors (No 9) (Court Closure) [2016] NSWSC 171 R v Qaumi & Ors (No 10) [2016] NSWSC 252 R v Qaumi & Ors (No 14) (Judge Alone) [2016] NSWSC 274 Reinhart v Welker [2011] NSWCA 403 Scott v Scott [1913] AC 417 The Queen v Glennon (1992) 173 CLR 592 Texts Cited: Roxanne Burd and Jacqueline Horan, "Protecting the right to a fair trial in the 21st century – has try by jury been caught in the world wide web? (2012) 36 Criminal Law Journal 103 Category: Procedural and other rulings Parties: Nationwide News, Fairfax and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (Intervenors) Regina Farhad Qaumi (the Applicant) Mumtaz Qaumi (the Applicant) Jamil Qaumi Mohammed Zarshoy Mohammed Kalal Representation: Counsel: M Lewis (Intervenors) K McKay & P Hogan (Crown) J Stratton SC & M Curry (F Qaumi) P Young SC (M Quami) N Carroll(J Quami) R Driels (Zarshoy) L McSpedden (Kalal)