Saad v Jeffcoat
[2013] NSWSC 1585
At a glance
Source factsCourt
Supreme Court of NSW
Decision date
2013-04-26
Before
Button J
Source
Original judgment source is linked above.
Judgment (14 paragraphs)
Judgment 1This is an appeal against the decision of Truscott LCM to make a final order permitting the carrying out of a non-intimate forensic procedure upon the plaintiff in the form of a buccal swab. 2The plaintiff was the respondent to the application in the Local Court. The defendant before me was the Prosecutor in the Local Court. For ease of comprehension, except when I come to make orders, I shall refer to the parties as the Prosecutor and the respondent.
Overview 3The following statutory structure was not in dispute between the parties at the hearing. 4The appeal is brought pursuant to s 115A of the Crimes (Forensic Procedures) Act 2000 ("the Act"). That provision permits appeals to this Court against the order under consideration. The appeal is to be dealt with as if it were an appeal against a sentence imposed in summary proceedings in the Local Court (by way of Part 2 of Chapter 4 of the Criminal Procedure Act 1986). Sections 52(1) and 53(1) of the Crimes (Appeal and Review) Act 2001 provide that an appeal in such a case to this Court is as of right when founded on a question of law alone, or with leave when founded upon a question of fact or a question of mixed fact and law. 5The order was made pursuant to Part 4 of the Act. Section 23 of the Act is relevantly as follows: "23 Circumstances in which Magistrate or other authorised officer may order forensic procedure An order may be made by a Magistrate under section 24, or by an authorised officer under section 32, for the carrying out of a forensic procedure on a suspect if: (a) the suspect is not under arrest and has not consented to the forensic procedure. ..." 6For the purposes of that section it was accepted by the parties that the respondent was not under arrest, and had not consented to the forensic procedure. It was alleged by the Prosecutor that he was a suspect as defined by the Act. 7A suspect is defined in s 3 of the Act as follows: "(a) a person whom a police officer suspects on reasonable grounds has committed an offence, (b) a person charged with an offence, (c) a person who has been summoned to appear before a court in relation to an offence alleged to have been committed by the person." (emphasis added) 8The Prosecutor alleged that the respondent fell within the definition in (a). 9As part of that assertion, the Prosecutor alleged that the respondent was a suspect of the offence of possession contained in s 7 of the Firearms Act 1996. That provision is relevantly as follows: "7 Offence of unauthorised possession or use of prohibited firearms or pistols (1) A person must not possess or use a prohibited firearm or pistol unless the person is authorised to do so by a licence or permit. Maximum penalty: imprisonment for 14 years. ..." 10Section 4A of the Firearms Act is as follows: "4A Meaning of "possession" of a firearm - proof of possession (1) Without restricting the meaning of the word possession, for the purposes of any proceedings under this Act, a firearm is taken to be in the possession of a person so long as it is in or on any premises owned, leased or occupied by, or in the care, control or management of, the person, unless the court is satisfied that: (a) the firearm was placed in or on, or brought into or on to, the premises by or on behalf of a person who was lawfully authorised by or under this Act to possess the firearm, or (b) the person did not know and could not reasonably be expected to have known that the firearm was in or on the premises, or (c) on the evidence before it, the person was not in possession of the firearm. (2) In this section, premises means any place, vehicle, vessel or aircraft." 11I shall come to the significance of s 4A of the Firearms Act later in this judgment. 12The pertinent parts of s 24 of the Act are as follows: "24 Final order for carrying out forensic procedure (1) A Magistrate may order the carrying out of a forensic procedure if satisfied on the balance of probabilities: (a) that the circumstances referred to in subsection (2) or (3) exist, and (b) that the carrying out of such a procedure is justified in all the circumstances. ... (3) In the case of a non-intimate forensic procedure: (a) there must be reasonable grounds to believe that the suspect has committed an offence, and (b) there must be reasonable grounds to believe that the procedure might produce evidence tending to confirm or disprove that the suspect has committed the offence referred to in paragraph (a). (4) In determining whether or not the carrying out of the forensic procedure is justified in all the circumstances, the Magistrate must balance the public interest in obtaining evidence as to whether or not the suspect committed the alleged offence against the public interest in upholding the suspect's physical integrity, having regard to the following: (a) the gravity of the alleged offence, (b) the seriousness of the circumstances in which the offence is alleged to have been committed, (c) the degree to which the suspect is alleged to have participated in the commission of the offence, (d) the age, cultural background and physical and mental health of the suspect, to the extent to which they are known, (e) in the case of a suspect who is a child or an incapable person, the best interests of the child or person, (f) such other practicable ways of obtaining evidence as to whether or not the suspect committed the alleged offence as are less intrusive, (g) such reasons as the suspect may have given for refusing to consent to the carrying out of the forensic procedure concerned, (h) in the case of a suspect who is in custody, the period for which the suspect has been in custody and the reasons for any delay in the making of an application for an order under this section, (i) such other matters as the Magistrate considers relevant to the balancing of those interests." 13There was no dispute between the parties that, before making the order, the learned Magistrate had to be satisfied on the balance of probabilities of four things. 14First, that a police officer believed on reasonable grounds that the respondent had committed an offence. That was founded upon the definition of "suspect" in s 3, and the reference to "suspect" in s 24(3)(a) of the Act. 15Secondly, that there were reasonable grounds to believe that the respondent had committed the offence of possessing a prohibited firearm or pistol (by way of the combined operation of section 24(3)(a) of the Act and s 7 of the Firearms Act). 16Thirdly, that there were reasonable grounds to believe that "the procedure might produce evidence tending to confirm or disprove that the suspect [had] committed the offence" referred to above (s 24(3)(b) of the Act). 17Fourthly, "that the carrying out of such a procedure [was] justified in all the circumstances" (s 24(1)(b) of the Act), as informed by the factors in s 24(4). 18The fourth matter based upon the combined operation of ss 24(3)(b) and 24(4) does not form the foundation of any ground of appeal, and will not be discussed further.