State of NSW v Hayter
[2009] NSWSC 318
At a glance
Source factsCourt
Supreme Court of NSW
Decision date
2009-04-24
Before
Buddin J
Catchwords
- Serious sex offender - preliminary hearing - order sought for examination by psychiatrists - application for interim supervision order
Source
Original judgment source is linked above.
Catchwords
Judgment (23 paragraphs)
Introduction 1 HIS HONOUR: By summons filed on 25 March 2009, the plaintiff seeks orders pursuant to the Crimes (Serious Sex Offenders) Act 2006 ("the Act") against the defendant, Warren Graeme Hayter. The final relief which is sought in the summons is an order, pursuant to s 9(1)(a) of the Act, that the defendant be made subject to an extended supervision order for a period of 5 years and an order, pursuant to s 11 of the Act, directing the defendant to comply with certain conditions which are set out in the schedule to the summons. The plaintiff has indicated that it will not be seeking an order for the continued detention of the defendant. 2 The matter has proceeded today as a preliminary hearing pursuant to s 7(3) of the Act. For present purposes the plaintiff seeks an order, pursuant to s 7(4) of the Act, appointing two qualified psychiatrists to conduct separate examinations of the defendant as well as an order directing the defendant to attend those examinations. The plaintiff also seeks an order, pursuant to s 8(1) of the Act, that the defendant be made subject to an interim supervision order for a period of 28 days with effect from 5 May 2009 which is the day upon which the detention order, to which the defendant is currently subject, expires and an order pursuant to s 11 of the Act directing the defendant to comply with the directions set out in the schedule to the summons. 3 In support of the present application, the plaintiff relies upon two affidavits of Carmela Tassone, affirmed on 7 April 2009 and 20 April 2009 respectively. Exhibited to the second affidavit of Ms Tassone are two folders of documents which are relevant to these proceedings. There is also an affidavit of Patrick Sheehan affirmed on 9 April 2009. Mr Sheehan currently holds the position of Senior Specialist Psychologist, Serious Sex Offenders Group within the Department of Corrective Services. In that capacity he has had a considerable amount of contact with the defendant in recent years. More importantly he has prepared a risk assessment report dated 9 March 2009 in relation to this application. A folder of documents which includes, inter alia, earlier reports which Mr Sheehan has prepared are annexed to his affidavit. Finally, there is an affidavit from Gavin David Rowan affirmed 17 April 2009. He is currently the Group Leader of the Community Compliance Group within the Department of Corrective Services. In that capacity he would be responsible for the supervision of the defendant in the event that the court orders that he is to be the subject of an extended supervision order. 4 In view of what is disclosed in that material, the defendant does not oppose the court making the orders sought in this preliminary hearing. Having said that, it should be recorded that although the defendant acknowledges that the court is bound by the decision of the High Court in Fardon v Attorney-General for the State of Queensland (2004) 223 CLR 575, its position is that "the role given to judges of the Supreme Court of New South Wales by the Crimes (Serious Sex Offenders) Act 2006 is incompatible with the Supreme Court's role as a repository of federal judicial power and that the exercise by the Court of the powers ostensibly given it by the Act compromise public confidence in the integrity or impartiality of the judiciary". Notwithstanding the fact that the defendant does not oppose the orders being made, it is still a matter for the court to determine if the statutory requirements have been established. 5 In order to put the present application in context, it will be necessary to briefly refer to the history of these proceedings. On 16 August 2007 the plaintiff commenced proceedings under the Act against the defendant seeking orders including an order for the continued detention of the defendant at the expiration of the sentence of imprisonment that he was then serving. That was a sentence of imprisonment of 3 years and 3 months which had been imposed upon the defendant following his conviction in the District Court of an offence of aggravated indecent assault on a victim under the age of 16 years, being an offence contrary to s 61M(1) of the Crimes Act 1900. That sentence was due to expire on 28 September 2007. 6 On 31 August 2007 Price J conducted a preliminary hearing in respect of the plaintiff's application and ordered, pursuant to s 15(4) of the Act, that two qualified psychiatrists be appointed to conduct separate psychiatric examinations of the defendant and to furnish reports to the court: Attorney General for the State of NSW v Hayter [2007] NSWSC 983. 7 Professor David Greenberg and Dr Anthony Samuels were the two psychiatrists appointed by the court to provide those expert reports. Each of them provided a report whilst another forensic psychiatrist, Dr Stephen Allnutt, provided two further reports. 8 The final hearing of that application took place over four days in late September 2007 before Hislop J. Each of the three psychiatric experts also gave oral evidence at that hearing. His Honour delivered reasons for judgment and made final orders on 16 October 2007. His Honour ordered that the defendant be detained for a period of 6 months from 16 October 2007: Attorney General for the State of NSW v Hayter [2007] NSWSC 1146. 9 On 6 March 2008 the plaintiff commenced further proceedings against the defendant seeking orders including an order for the continued detention of the defendant beyond the term specified in the order to which I have just referred. On 18 March 2008 Hislop J conducted a preliminary hearing in respect of the matter and ordered, pursuant to s 15(4), that two qualified psychiatrists be appointed to conduct separate psychiatric examinations of the defendant and to furnish reports to the court. His Honour also ordered that the defendant be subject to an interim detention order pursuant to s 16 of the Act. Professor Greenberg and Dr Samuels were again the two psychiatrists appointed by the court to provide those expert reports. In addition, the plaintiff also relied upon a further report from Dr Allnutt. 10 The final hearing of that application took place on 28 April 2008 before Hislop J. His Honour delivered reasons for judgment and made final orders on 6 May 2008. His Honour ordered that the defendant be detained for a period of 12 months from 6 May 2008: State of New South Wales v Hayter [2008] NSWSC 394. 11 The starting point for a determination of any application brought under the Act is s 3 which is in the following terms: (1) The primary object of this Act is to provide for the extended supervision and continuing detention of serious sex offenders so as to ensure the safety and protection of the community. (2) Another object of this Act is to encourage serious sex offenders to undertake rehabilitation 12 The plaintiff's entitlement to make this application arises from the fact that the applicant is a "sex offender" as defined in s 4 of the Act and because he is in custody pursuant to an existing "continuing detention order" for a "serious sex offence": s 6(1)(b) of the Act. 13 The Act provides for a preliminary hearing to be undertaken in which the Court is to consider whether it is satisfied that the matters alleged in the supporting documentation would, if proved, justify the making of a final order. If they would, the Court is required to order that psychiatric examinations be undertaken of the defendant: s 7(4) of the Act. If the Court is not so satisfied, the application must be dismissed: s 7(5) of the Act. 14 Section 8(1) of the Act empowers the Court to make an interim supervision order if, relevantly, the offender's current custody will expire before the proceedings are determined and the matters alleged in the supporting documentation would, if proved, justify the making of an extended supervision order. The interim supervision order cannot exceed 28 days although it can be renewed from time to time but not so as to exceed a total period of 3 months. It may be accepted that the defendant's current custody will expire before the proceedings are determined. 15 In those circumstances, it is necessary to have regard to s 9 of the Act and in particular to the factors identified in s 9(3) of the Act. 16 In State of New South Wales v Manners [2008] NSWSC 1242 Johnson J described the test to be applied in the following terms: In Attorney-General for the State of New South Wales v Tillman [2007] NSWCA 119 at [98], the Court of Appeal emphasised that the task of the Court, at the preliminary hearing stage, was not to weigh up the documentation or to predict the ultimate result or to consider what evidence the Defendant might call at the final hearing. It has been said that the test to be applied at this stage is similar to the prima facie case test applied by magistrates as part of committal proceedings: Attorney-General for the State of New South Wales v Hayter at [6]; State of New South Wales v Brookes [2008] NSWSC 150 at [13].