State of New South Wales v Bowdidge
[2019] NSWSC 1177
At a glance
Source factsCourt
Supreme Court of NSW
Decision date
2019-09-06
Before
Bellew J
Source
Original judgment source is linked above.
Judgment (13 paragraphs)
INTRODUCTION
- By a summons filed on 8 July 2019 the plaintiff seeks orders pursuant to the Crimes (High Risk Offenders) Act 2006 (NSW) ("the Act"). For present purposes, the orders sought are set out in prayers 1 and 2 of the summons, and are in the following terms: (1) an order pursuant to s 7(4) of the Act: (a) appointing two qualified psychiatrists/a qualified psychiatrist and a registered psychologist/two registered psychologists to conduct separate psychiatric and/or psychological examinations of the defendant and to furnish reports to the Supreme Court on the results of those examinations by a date to be fixed by the Court; (b) directing the defendant to attend at those examinations. (2) an order: (a) pursuant to s 10A of the Act, that the defendant be subject to an interim supervision order from 7 October 2019 ("the interim supervision order"); (b) pursuant to s 10C(1) of the Act, that the interim supervision order be for a period of 28 days; and (c) pursuant to s 11 of the Act, directing that the defendant, for the period of the interim supervision order, comply with the conditions set out in the schedule to this summons.
- In relation to the order sought in 2(c), it should be noted that the schedule setting out the conditions has now been amended following discussions between the parties. The amended schedule has been handed up in court this morning and represents a consensus reached by the parties as to appropriate conditions, in the event that I am satisfied that the order in (2) should be made.
- The summons is supported by three affidavits of Jessica Leigh Murty affirmed on 8 July 2019, 6 August 2019 and 13 August 2019 respectively. Those affidavits were read without objection. The plaintiff also relies upon the evidence contained in exhibit JM-1.
- I have been provided, in advance of today, with the entirety of the evidentiary material relied upon by the plaintiff. I have also been provided with comprehensive written submissions from counsel for the plaintiff, as well as an outline of written submissions from counsel for the defendant. I record my thanks to both counsel for the diligence with which they have approached the matter, which has rendered my assessment of the evidence a great deal easier than would otherwise have been the case. Counsel for the defendant has helpfully made it clear that he does not resist order (1). In terms of order (2), and for the purposes of this preliminary hearing only, counsel has not sought to be heard as to whether I can be satisfied to a high degree of probability that the defendant poses an unacceptable risk of committing a further serious offence unless he is supervised. Although counsel for the defendant initially took issue with some of the conditions which the plaintiff sought to impose in the event that an order were made, those issues have been resolved.