El-Saeidy v McAnulty [2016] NSWSC 340

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: El-Saeidy v McAnulty [2016] NSWSC 340 Hearing dates: 30 March 2016 Date of orders: 31 March 2016 Decision date: 31 March 2016 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: Harrison J Decision: Application dismissed Catchwords: PROCEDURE – civil procedure – interlocutory application for stay of Local Court proceedings pending determination of proceedings in this Court – where Supreme Court proceedings include an application for the Local Court magistrate to disqualify himself – whether application involves fragmentation of part-heard criminal proceedings – whether stay warranted Legislation Cited: Crimes (Appeal and Review) Act 2001 Cases Cited: Andrews v Ardler [2012] NSWSC 845 El-Saeidy v Prowse [2016] NSWSC 46 Category: Procedural and other rulings Parties: Fawzi El-Saeidy (Plaintiff) Shane McAnulty (First Defendant) Representation: Solicitors: Brett Thomson (Defendants) File Number(s): 2016/78142 Publication restriction: Nil

Judgment 1. HIS HONOUR: By his amended summons seeking leave to appeal filed on 14 March 2016, Mr El-Saeidy challenges certain orders said to have been made by Magistrate McAnulty in criminal proceedings currently on foot against him in the Local Court at Liverpool. Some brief background is necessary to explain the proceedings in this Court. 2. Background 3. Mr El-Saeidy is the defendant in criminal proceedings in the Local Court. They were originally commenced before Magistrate Prowse but Mr El-Saeidy successfully applied to Garling J for his removal from the proceedings: see El-Saeidy v Prowse [2016] NSWSC 46. Although the precise details of those proceedings are not in terms explained on the evidence before me, it appears from the transcript of the proceedings before Magistrate McAnulty on 10, 11 and 12 February 2016 that Mr El-Saeidy is being prosecuted in respect of alleged contraventions by him of apprehended personal violence orders. It is apparent that the proceedings are strenuously defended and that the allegations are contested. 4. In the course of those proceedings, which are currently part-heard and at present scheduled to resume on 4 April 2016 with an estimate of five more days, Mr El-Saeidy applied to have the learned magistrate recuse himself for actual or apprehended bias. The learned magistrate has also made decisions and rulings on evidence and procedure that Mr El-Saeidy contends have fundamentally compromised or imperilled his chances of a fair trial. 5. The proceedings in this Court have quite unsurprisingly not yet been allocated a date for hearing. The substance of what Mr El-Saeidy seeks in this Court is that his appeal be allowed and that certain of his Honour's orders be quashed. In advance of the determination of his principal claims for relief, Mr El-Saeidy seeks a series of further orders on an urgent basis in terms of his notice of motion filed in court before me today. The orders sought are relevantly as follows: 1. An order that hearing of the Local Court matters 2015/207567, 2015/275429, 2014/35205 and 2014/351220 in [sic, on] 4 April 2016, 5 April 2016, 6 April 2016, 7 April 2016 and 8 April 2016 at Liverpool Court be stayed until determination of the substantive proceedings in the Supreme Court. 2. In the alternative to order 1, an order prohibiting [the defendants] from taking any steps to further hear or determine any of the matters [referred to in order 1] until determination of the substantive proceedings [in this Court].