Pretrial application — careless driving causing injury — application to dismiss charge — abuse of process — prejudice to defendant — Criminal Procedure Act 2011, s 147 — Wilson v R [2015] NZSC 189 — Osborne v Worksafe New Zealand [2017] NZSC 175. The defendant faced a charge of careless driving causing injury. The charge arose from an incident in which the defendant allegedly drove a van which struck and injured a 10-year old. In this pretrial matter the defendant sought for the charge to be dismissed for abuse of process. The defendant submitted that after reviewing the evidence a police lawyer had informed him that the charge would be withdrawn, only to then tell him two days later that it would not. The Court found that there had been no material prejudice to the defendant. He had voluntarily disclosed expert witness evidence to the police lawyer, but had only done so to encourage the prosecution to drop the charge against him. He had made a strategic decision to disclose the evidence, and ultimately it had not paid off. Although the situation was not ideal, it would not undermine public confidence in the judicial process. The offending alleged was serious, the mixed signals from the police lawyer were an isolated incident, and there were only two days between the lawyer's conflicting representations, which arose from a genuine mistake. It was in the interests of justice for the charge to be heard. The application was dismissed. Judgment Date: 28 May 2020. * * * Note: names have been changed to comply with legal requirements. * * *