Grierson v R [2019] NSWDC 669

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Grierson v R [2019] NSWDC 669 Hearing dates: 28 October 2019 Date of orders: 08 November 2019 Decision date: 08 November 2019 Jurisdiction: Criminal Before: Abadee DCJ Decision: See paragraph 78 Catchwords: CRIMINAL – conviction appeal – possession of identification information to commit, facilitate, commission fraud – unauthorised possession of a prohibited firearm – circumstantial evidence – credit of witnesses. Legislation Cited: Crimes Act 1900 (NSW), ss 192I, 192K Firearms Act 1996 (NSW), ss 4, 4A, 4D Crimes (Appeal and Review) Act 2001 (NSW), s 11 Cases Cited: Charara v R (2006) 164 A Crim R 39 Fox v Percy (2003) 214 CLR 118 The Queen v Baden-Clay (2016) 258 CLR 308 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Director of Public Prosecutions Mr A Grierson Representation: Counsel: Ms Kim for the Director of Public Prosecutions Mr A Hallas

Solicitors: Solicitor for the Director of Public Prosecutions Tran Solicitors File Number(s): 2017/288633 Publication restriction: Nil

Judgment

Introduction 1. This is an appeal against conviction of the appellant of two offences by the Burwood Local Court on 25 February 2019. 2. The offences of which the appellant was convicted were: 1. Possession of identification information to commit, facilitate commission of an indictable offence, namely, fraud, pursuant to s 192K of the Crimes Act. 2. Unauthorised possession of a prohibited firearm, pursuant to s 7 of the Firearms Act 1996. 1. The appeal to this Court is pursuant to s 11 of the Crimes (Appeal and Review) Act 2001 (NSW). The nature of the appeal is that it is one by rehearing, on the basis of the Local Court transcripts, supplemented by the exhibits tendered in the Local Court. There was no application before me for leave to adduce fresh evidence. 2. It is well understood that in this Court's appellate function, the Court must give the judgment which it thinks should have been given in the first instance. But it must observe the natural limitations which exist in an appellate court proceeding wholly based on the record. These include the disadvantage that the Court has when compared with the Local Court magistrate in respect of the evaluation of witnesses' credibility and the 'feeling' of a case which the Court, reading the transcript cannot fully share [1] .