R v Afu; R v Caleo (No 6) [2018] NSWSC 185

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: R v Afu; R v Caleo (No 6) [2018] NSWSC 185 Hearing dates: 6 February 2018 Decision date: 07 February 2018 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: R A Hulme J Decision: Evidentiary rulings made Catchwords: EVIDENCE – admissibility and relevancy – evidence of representations made by two witnesses who are unavailable – where unavailable witness gave evidence that the deceased had been threatened by the accused – whether necessary that the representation be made as evidence of the truth of the assertion – evidence admissible as evidence of the fact that the statement was made and not that the statement was true – s 65(2)

EVIDENCE – admissibility and relevancy – where witness proposed to give evidence of her opinion on progress of property transaction between accused and victim – whether expression of opinion was inadmissible as opinion evidence – ruled inadmissible

EVIDENCE – admissibility and relevancy – where witness proposed to give evidence that the deceased had indicated that he was going to sue the accused and had been scared of being assaulted or murdered – where evidence of deceased's fear of being assaulted or murdered did not name the accused – whether the probative value of the evidence was outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice – evidence ruled admissible

EVIDENCE – admissibility and relevancy –where witness gave evidence that the deceased had been threatened by the accused over property transaction – whether necessary that the representation be made as evidence of the truth of the assertion – evidence admissible as evidence of the fact that the statement was made and not that the statement was true Legislation Cited: Evidence Act 1995 (NSW) cl 4 Pt 2, s 67 Cases Cited: R v Afu; R v Caleo [2017] NSWSC 1780 Category: Procedural and other rulings Parties: Regina Mark Richard Caleo (Accused) Representation: Counsel: Ms M Cunneen SC (Crown) Mr G Brady SC with Ms R Khalilizadeh (Caleo)