R v Ronald Edward Medich

Judgment - EX TEMPORE (REVISED)

1. In the course of cross-examination of Loren Gattellari ("the witness") senior counsel for the accused asked a question in the following terms: "Q. Sir, have you ever been involved in trying to forge Mr Medich's signature?"
2. The Crown objected to that general line of questioning on the grounds of relevance. Senior counsel for the accused submitted that it was relevant to the credibility of the witness. In the event that the questions are allowed, it can be reasonably anticipated that the witness will object to answering them, triggering the operation of s 128 of the Evidence Act 1995 (NSW) ("the Act"). In order to resolve the objection, some short background is necessary.
3. The witness is the son of Fortunato Gattellari ("Gattellari") who is the Crown's principal witness and who has already given evidence. One of the allegations put to Gattellari in cross-examination was that he demanded a sum of $1 million from the accused following his (i.e. Gattellari's) arrest, and threatened that if the money was not paid (and on the evidence, it was not) he would implicate the accused in the murder of the deceased. Gattellari agreed that he sought $1 million from the accused. However, he denied that he sought to blackmail the accused in the manner alleged.
4. The witness is said to have been involved in conveying a message to the accused's son seeking the money. Whilst he has generally admitted to conveying a message to that effect, he strenuously denied engaging in any attempt to blackmail the accused at the behest of Gattellari.
5. One of the many areas of cross-examination which went to Gattellari's credit centred upon an allegation that he repeatedly stole large amounts of money from the accused. In that regard, he was asked questions about a conversation he had with Senad Kaminic (another witness who, on the Crown case, was a participant in the joint criminal enterprise to kill the deceased) on 17 March 2010. In the course of that conversation, the following exchange took place: "KAMINIC: Listen, I'm here in the office. Here is chequebook and I'll take one and also I find something with a - his signature. GATTELLARI: Yes, eh? Take it. Take it with you and have a look at it and see if you can copy it, all right? KAMINIC: We need Lauren, mate. GATTELLARI: Who, Lauren? Heh, Lauren's in bloody Queensland. (laughs) Anyway, look, I may...we may not; we may not need it, so just take it, take the, take the cheque and take the thing with you, all right and eh, I'll talk to you tomorrow morning."