The claims advanced in relation to the charge of which he was acquitted in 2009 are also bound to fail
39That difficulty infects the claim of damages advanced in the statement of claim in relation to count 1, of which he was acquitted in the 2009 trial. Mr Gillies was not acquitted of that charge at the 2006 trial. The 2009 trial was thus pursued while he was serving the sentence imposed upon him in 2006.
40One of the allegations made in the particulars provided in the statement of claim was of the existence of a conspiracy with Solomon DCJ to have his Honour preside over that trial. That is not properly pleaded, as I have explained. Even if it were, it is difficult to see the basis of any claim that alleged damage could have been the result of any such conspiracy, given that his Honour did not preside over the trial which took place while Mr Gillies remained in lawful custody before Finnane DCJ.
41It was candidly conceded for the defendant that it was theoretically possible that a malicious prosecution case in relation to the count 1 the subject of the second trial could be pleaded, given Mr Gillies' acquittal of that charge in 2009. That is also, however, not a claim which is properly pleaded. Mr Gillies has not appeared to explain how it could be.
42It was also conceded that if such a claim were repleaded and successfully prosecuted, Mr Gillies could conceivably obtain an award of damages for costs incurred in defending that charge, if there were any. Given that in 2009 he was serving a sentence for his earlier conviction, it was not conceded that he could recover other damages of the type claimed in his statement of claim.
43It was maintained, however, that such a claim, if made, was doomed to fail given that the elements of a malicious prosecution claim required not only a decision in Mr Gillies' favour in the 2009 trial.
44While the State accepted that it was the proper defendant in these proceedings and vicariously liable for the conduct of the prosecutor, it submitted that the tort of malicious prosecution requires Mr Gillies to establish that the prosecutor had acted without reasonable and probable cause and with malice. That submission must be accepted (see Beckett v New South Wales [2013] HCA 17; 248 CLR 432 at [4]).
45The pleadings do not provide adequate particulars of these matters, as I have explained. What is relied on shows that the case is untenable.
46The statement of claim filed provides at 83 - 86:
"83. What all aforementioned material demonstrates, proved and revealed is that Judge Solomon failed to execute his judicial powers when he was asked to rule over the duplicity issue, instead of excluding the material he allowed the tape into evidence in the Plaintiff's 2006 trial.
84. Also, given that the charge being laid and maintained (not once, but twice) were known by Crown Prosecutor Ms Shead together with her instructing solicitor Mr Prince to be false and there was never any evidence that it had been committed follows that the prosecution was therefore inherently malicious towards the Plaintiff.
85. Clearly, the prosecution doctored the video footage of in support of their prosecution brought against the Plaintiff.
86. The prosecution authorities did whatever necessary to keep the Plaintiffs vital piece of evidence surrounding the issue of the videotapes authenticity and the continuity matter from the jury thereby opening up the path to conduct the Plaintiffs 2006 trial in the manner in which it proceeded guaranteeing a conviction and the soul or dominant purpose actuating the prosecutor in pressing the proceedings against the Plaintiff was to stop a civil action brought by the Plaintiff against the prosecution when having regard to all the aforementioned collective charges that terminated in favour of the Plaintiff."
47Reliance is placed at [81] to a question asked by Finnane DCJ at the 2009 trial, as to how the video recording could establish sexual intercourse.
48The amended pleadings provided to the defendant, which Mr Gillies has not sought to pursue, claimed:
"93. The Police unreasonably failed to investigate, or to investigate properly, any relevant matter that the police was or ought to have reasonably been aware of, that suggested that the Plaintiff in the circumstances, was not guilty, thereby, the proceedings should not have been brought.
94. Given that the charge being laid and maintained were known by the Prosecution Authorities to be false follows that the prosecution was therefore inherently malicious towards the Plaintiff.
95. What all aforementioned material demonstrates, proved and revealed is that Judge Solomon failed to execute his judicial powers when he was asked to rule over the duplicity issue, instead of excluding the material he allowed the videotape into evidence in the Plaintiff's 2006 trial."
49This amendment does not cure the problems with the current pleadings.
50In any event, Mr Gillies has not pressed this pleading. He has not sought to amend the current pleading, to pursue a properly pleaded malicious prosecution case. Nor has he advanced any evidence or submissions as to any basis upon which such a case could be pursued. All that he has pointed to in the particulars provided in the statement of claim filed is a question asked by Finnane DCJ early in the 2009 trial, as to whether the video recording in evidence was capable of establishing sexual intercourse. That is incapable of establishing a malicious prosecution.
51Malicious prosecution cases are difficult to establish, given the forensic difficulty of proving a negative. Identification of the alleged prosecutor is also an important element of the tort, as explained in A v New South Wales [2007] HCA 10; 230 CLR 500 at [36]. In an action for malicious prosecution, it may be a complainant, rather than a police officer who lays an information or signs a charge sheet, who must properly be regarded to be the prosecutor. Accusations of sexual offences was given as an example, because the capacity of a police officer to verify information and form an opinion about where the truth appears to lie, in a practical sense in such cases, was very limited, because what has to be assessed is uncorroborated allegations of private sexual misconduct, which, it was observed, are notoriously difficult to test.
52In this case, it must be considered that what was available to the prosecutor included video recordings of the alleged assault, which became exhibit B at the 2006 trial and an exhibit at the 2009 trial, as well as Ms Oszko's complaint and later, her evidence. That explains no doubt the concession that the defendant was vicariously liable for the prosecutor in this case.
53That, however, raises other practical difficulties for the proof of this tort, in relation to the charge of which Mr Gillies was acquitted.
54In A v New South Wales it was observed at [118]:
"118 Where a prosecutor has no personal knowledge of the facts underlying the charge, but acts on information received, the issue is not whether the plaintiff proves that the state of mind of the prosecutor fell short of a positive persuasion of guilt. As explained earlier in these reasons, it is whether the plaintiff proves that the prosecutor did not honestly form the view that there was a proper case for prosecution, or proves that the prosecutor formed that view on an insufficient basis."
55Contrary to the particulars provided in the statement of claim, It was only exhibit A, the video which depicted the events which became the subject of the charge of which the plaintiff was convicted in 2006, about which a question of authenticity arose. There was no issue in relation to the authenticity of exhibit B, the recording which related to the charge pursued at the 2009 trial. That and other material was available to the prosecutor in forming an opinion in relation to the pursuit of the 2006 trial, as was the evidence at the 2006 trial, in relation to the pursuit of the 2009 trial.
56As to malice, that is, acting for purposes other than the proper purpose of instituting criminal proceedings, it was explained in A v New South Wales at [55] that such purposes include, but are not limited to, purposes of personal animus. Even in such a case, however, an action for malicious prosecution does not lie where the material before the prosecutor at the time of initiating or maintaining the charge both persuaded the prosecutor that laying the charge was proper, and would have been objectively assessed as warranting the laying of a charge.
57It is relevant that Mr Gillies has not claimed that the material available to the prosecutor could not have provided the prosecutor with a proper basis for forming an opinion that there was a proper case for prosecution.
58As to the element of reasonable and probable cause, that requires an examination of both what the prosecutor made of the material available and what the prosecutor should have made of it. That requires consideration of the state of affairs when the prosecution was commenced or maintained, having regard to the material then available for consideration.
59The problem with this element of the tort is the existence of the video footage, exhibit B, whose authenticity was not in issue and of Ms Oszko's complaints and evidence. It was only the video relating to the charge of which Mr Gillies was convicted in 2006, which was claimed not to have been authentic. That claim was pursued on appeal. It failed, the Court of Criminal Appeal concluding at [77] - [78] in relation to the authenticity of the tape and the refusal to grant a stay of the proceedings:
"77 The trial judge held:
"I believe I can properly draw the inference that it was the accused himself who over recorded the activities contained in activity A. However, even if I could not come to that conclusion I am satisfied that the absence of the evidence does not prevent the accused having a fair trial. That being the case I will not stay the proceedings. I go one step further and say that even if I had found that the accused's opportunity to have a fair trial had been significantly reduced by the absence of the evidence I still would have had to consider the public interest in relation to the matter."
"78 His Honour's conclusion was well open to him. As he observed, the complainant was available to give evidence and could be cross-examined as to the type of sexual behaviour she engaged in with the accused and the manner in which she gave her consent to sexual activity. Furthermore, the appellant was available to, and did in fact, give evidence on the issue of consent. Whilst the appellant's case would have been stronger if the obliterated material did exist and was as represented by him, this did not prevent a fair hearing being accorded to him and the situation did not constitute such exceptional circumstances as to justify the use of the power to grant a permanent stay of proceedings. His Honour ruled that the videotape should not be excluded pursuant to s 137 of the Evidence Act."
60What Mr Gillies claims in the statement of claim is inconsistent with these conclusions. The 2006 jury did not acquit Mr Gillies of the charge later pursued at the 2009 trial. It was consent, not sexual intercourse which was also in issue in relation to that charge.
61The transcript of the 2009 trial and the evidence given by Mr Gillies at the 2006 trial, which was led in evidence at the 2009 trial were tendered by the defendant on this motion. They establish that Finnane DCJ's question was answered by reference to evidence which Mr Gillies had himself given at the 2006 trial about this charge. In the result, penetration, that is sexual intercourse, was not in issue in either trial on this count. That was put beyond argument by the cases which the parties later advanced in their submissions and by Finnane DCJ's summing up. It was the giving of Ms Oszko's consent and what Mr Gillies understood as to her consent, in relation to the admitted sexual intercourse the subject of this count, which was in issue at both trials.
62It follows that Finnane DCJ's question is incapable of establishing that the prosecutor had acted without reasonable and probable cause and with malice, even if a malicious prosecution claim were to be properly pleaded. Mr Gillies has not taken the opportunity to explain any other basis upon whether he could seek to advance such a case.
63In the result, on the material, I am satisfied that not only should the statement of claim be struck out, but that the proceedings should be dismissed.
64I, too, note however that this decision permits Mr Gillies, should he wish, to make an application in relation to the judgment, in accordance with Rule 36.16 as discussed in Gillies v District Court of New South Wales at [6].