R v Barakat (No 6) [2016] NSWSC 1373

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: R v Barakat (No 6) [2016] NSWSC 1373 Hearing dates: 16 September 2016 Date of orders: 19 September 2016 Decision date: 26 September 2016 Jurisdiction: Common Law - Criminal Before: N Adams J Decision: Evidence of the MMS file received by the accused on 12 July 2013 is inadmissible. Catchwords: EVIDENCE – shooting murder – where accused received video message showing a news items about shooting shortly after it occurred – whether evidence relevant Legislation Cited: Evidence Act 1995 (NSW) Cases Cited: R v Chin (1985) 157 CLR 671 R v Soma (2003) 213 CLR 299 Category: Procedural and other rulings Parties: Regina Mahmoud Barakat Representation: Counsel: P McGrath SC (Crown) D Dalton SC (Accused Barakat)

Solicitors: Solicitor for Public Prosecutions (Crown) Kiki Kyriacou Lawyers (Accused Barakat) File Number(s): 2013/00327619 Publication restriction: Nil

Judgment 1. On 7 September 2016, Mahmoud Barakat ("the accused") pleaded not guilty before me to an indictment charging that on 12 July 2013 at Abbotsbury he did murder Ali Jammas ("the deceased"). At the same time David Younes ("Younes") pleaded not guilty to being an accessory after the fact to that murder, but on 13 September 2016 the Director of Public Prosecutions directed that there be no further proceedings in relation to that count. 2. A jury was empanelled on 20 September 2016. A number of pre-trial applications were heard and determined prior to the empanelment of a jury. 3. On 16 September 2016, I considered an objection made by Mr Dalton SC, who appears for the accused, to material sought to be adduced in the Crown case. After hearing submissions, I ruled that the evidence was not admissible and indicated that I would provide my reasons for doing so at a later date. These are my reasons for excluding the evidence