R v Jarratt [2019] NSWDC 300

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: R v Jarratt [2019] NSWDC 300 Hearing dates: 3 July 2019 Date of orders: 03 July 2019 Decision date: 04 July 2019 Jurisdiction: Criminal Before: Mahony SC DCJ Decision: Crown allowed to adduce hearsay evidence Catchwords: Hearsay; complaint evidence Legislation Cited: Evidence Act 1995 Cases Cited: R v Bauer [2018] HCA 40 R v Brooks (No. 3) [2017] NSWSC 261 R v XY [2010] NSWCCA 181 Category: Procedural and other rulings Parties: Director of Public Prosecutions (Crown) John Jarratt (Accused) Representation: Counsel: J Bowers (Crown) G James QC/D McMahon (Accused)

Solicitors: Murphy Lawyers File Number(s): 18/262210 Publication restriction: NB s 578A(2) of the Crimes Act 1900 applies to this matter – no publication of any matter which identifies the complainant or may lead to the identification of the complainant.

Judgment ON ADMISSIBILITY OF EVIDENCE 1. During the Crown case on 3 July 2019, the Crown indicated that it intended to call Mr Peter Grainger to give evidence in accordance with a statement made by him to police on 27 December 2017. That statement was marked for identification as MFI 6. 2. The accused objected to the Crown adducing evidence from Mr Grainger on the basis that it was hearsay evidence, and could not be adduced as evidence of the truth of its contents. The Crown sought to adduce the evidence as an exception to the hearsay rule in s 59 of the Evidence Act 1995, pursuant to s 66 of the Evidence Act.