Australia, Aug. 26 -- New South Wales Land and Environment Court issued text of the following judgement on July 25:

1. Tony Tadrosse and Danny Stephen both stand charged with the murder of Kalim Saliba (contrary to s 18(1)(a) of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW)) and the assault with intent to rob Shahidy Saliba with wounding whilst being armed (contrary to s 98 of the Crimes Act).

2. On 29 April 2020, at about 12:15am, 86-year-old Kalim Saliba and his 83-year-old wife Shahidy Saliba were watching television in their home in Cherrybrook when, on the Crown case, one or two persons entered their home to rob them. There is no dispute that Mr Saliba was killed by an intruder that night and that Mrs Saliba was assaulted. The dispute is as to the identity of the assailant(s).

3. The accused were arrested and charged with the murder of the deceased and the assault of Mrs Saliba on 12 April 2023. Both men have entered pleas of not guilty to both charges. Their joint trial is listed to commence before me (and a jury) on 28 July 2025.

4. Some pre-trial argument was heard by me on 16 to 18 December 2024. I delivered my reasons for my ruling in that matter on 28 March 2025: R v Stephen; R v Tadrosse (No 2) [2025] NSWSC 284.

5. On 22 July 2025, I heard further pre-trial argument on several issues raised by the parties. I made a ruling at that time that I would grant leave for Mrs Saliba to give her evidence by audio-visual link and make an order for a view and I reserved my reasons. The reasons that follow address those orders as well as two further evidentiary rulings relating to evidence objected to by Mr Tadrosse.

6. The further pre-trial issue of the availability of the basis of liability relied upon by the Crown is the subject of separate reasons: R v Stephen; R v Tadrosse (No 4) [2025] NSWSC 824.

The Crown case

7. The Crown case is circumstantial. I have already set it out in R v Stephen; R v Tadrosse (No 2) [2025] NSWSC 284 and R v Stephen; R v Tadrosse (No 4) [2025] NSWSC 824 and do not propose to do so again for the purposes of these rulings.

8. What is important is that the Crown case is a circumstantial one based on, inter alia, CCTV, telephone records and movements, and the locations where an Audi said to be driven by Mr Stephen was observed. A very detailed Crown Case Statement has been provided. It sets out in detail how it is the Crown seeks to chart the movements of the two accused to prove its case. I will refer to other specific aspects of the Crown Case Statement when necessary in these reasons.

*Rest of the document can be viewed at: (https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/1983f56ad816d9e0379c1630)

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