Bowden v The State of Western Australia

In Bowden v The State of Western Australia, the Court of Appeal considered the appeal of Geraldine Louise Bowden against her convictions for attempting to pervert the course of justice. Bowden had entered pleas of guilty in the District Court to three counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice, each count related to false statements made to police to avoid the issue of traffic infringement notices for speeding offences. The sole ground of appeal was that a miscarriage of justice had occurred because, upon the admitted facts, Bowden could not in law have been guilty of the offences.

The court found that the statutory scheme in Western Australia regarding speeding offences and traffic infringement notices allowed for the enforcement of such offences by either prosecution notices or traffic infringement notices. The latter was the more common method. Bowden's false statements were made to avoid the consequences of the issue of traffic infringement notices, namely fines and demerit points. There was no evidence that Bowden believed the police would invoke the jurisdiction of a court in relation to her contraventions of the speeding regulations or that she intended her false statements to have a manifest tendency to pervert the course of justice in a relevant respect.

The court concluded that the appellant could not, in law, have been guilty of the offences of attempting to pervert the course of justice. As a result, a miscarriage of justice had occurred. The appeal was allowed, the judgments of conviction in respect of the three counts were set aside, and judgments of acquittal were entered.