The NSW government has failed in its bid to get out of paying a woman more than $18,000 after police trespassed on her property.
Northern Rivers property owner Sanchia Romani won proceedings against NSW Police earlier this year after two officers climbed a locked gate into her land in August 2021.
Police had received information Ms Romani might be printing pamphlets about a planned public gathering or protest, which would have been in breach of COVID-19 laws in place at the time.
Two officers attended her property without a warrant and climbed over the locked gate despite a "no trespass" sign.
Ms Romani was not home at the time, but her 19-year-old daughter Maia and younger son were.
Officers questioned her daughter despite her asking them to return behind the gate.
Ms Romani previously told the court the officers' actions had caused her children "great anxiety, distress, worry and trauma".
She said she felt her family privacy had been "grossly invaded" and the right to live peacefully on their property "grossly infringed".
In February, she was awarded more than $18,000 after NSW Supreme Court Justice Robertson Wright found officers breached her privacy.
The state did not pay and instead filed an application in May to delay as the costs incurred during the proceedings had been more than $20,000.
If the application had been successful, Ms Romani would not have received any money from the state since the costs were more than the value of the judgment.
On Thursday, Justice Wright denied the state's application.
He ruled there was a public interest in ensuring the infringement of citizens' rights by those supposed to uphold the law was vindicated.
"Sanchia was awarded not only general damages for the admitted trespass to her land by the two police officers but also aggravated and exemplary damages in the circumstances," he said.
"If costs, as claimed by the state ... were set off against the damages awarded to Sanchia, the judgment in her favour would be effectively wiped out.
"In my view, this would be contrary to the public interest."
Justice Wright said there had been no conduct on the part of Ms Romani to justify the state's claim that the costs should be set off against the judgment sum.
In contrast, he said the state had failed to pay the $18,000 sum for three months "without any apparent justification and has subsequently continued to refuse to pay".
The state has been ordered to pay the full original amount plus interest as well as Ms Romani's legal costs for its rejected application.
