Prosecutors who were unable to track down witnesses to a serious alleged drunken assault in Civic should have used social media sites like Facebook, a judge has said.
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The failure to take all reasonable steps to track down the three witnesses means their statements about the alleged assault, which left a young Canberran with a skull fracture and brain injury, have been tossed out of court.
Levi Freeman-Quay, 26, is accused of delivering a punch to the head of Matt Pridham during a drunken scuffle in Civic in the early hours of September 21, 2013.
Freeman-Quay's blow allegedly caused Mr Pridham to fall back unconscious, smash his head on the concrete, and sustain serious injuries.
CCTV captured the incident, but the defence, represented by barrister Ken Archer, say it's ambiguous and does not show Freeman-Quay as the one responsible for the offending punch.
A number of witnesses gave statements to police about what they saw during the assault.
Two gave evidence to the ACT Supreme Court on Wednesday, including an aquaintance of Freeman-Quay, who was with him in Civic on the night.
Mr Archer accused that man of punching Mr Pridham, playing him CCTV footage of the incident frame by frame, and suggesting his arm was engaged in a striking motion.
The man denied he had punched the victim, and said he had grabbed him during the scuffle to try to protect himself after an attempted headbutt.
The prosecution tried to have their original statements put into evidence regardless of their absence, an application opposed by the defence, who said authorities did not take all reasonable steps to find them and secure them before the court.
On Wednesday morning, Chief Justice Helen Murrell agreed with the defence.
She noted that for two of the witnesses, reasonable steps had been taken to make phone and physical contact.
But the judge said that other avenues of contact, most importantly social media sites like Facebook, were not used to try to find them.
"In the case of young people, it is well-known that almost all young people... use social media sites for communication, and that is a method of investigation that I think usually would be adopted in the search for young people," she said.
Chief Justice Murrell also noted electoral rolls, motor vehicle registries, phone listings, and police indices had not been used.
The decision means the written statements will not be tendered as evidence in the trial.
Proceedings continue on Thursday afternoon in the ACT Supreme Court.
