Dickson v R (No 3)

Court of Criminal Appeal

Supreme Court

New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Dickson v R (No 3) [2018] NSWCCA 242
Hearing dates: On the papers
Decision date: 26 October 2018
Before: Macfarlan JA;
Schmidt J;
Wilson J
Decision:
Order that Mr Dickson’s application of 10 September 2018 be dealt with on the papers and be dismissed.

Catchwords: APPEAL – application to set aside previous Court of Criminal Appeal judgment – application refused – no issue of principle
Legislation Cited: Criminal Appeal Rules 1912 (NSW), r 50C
Category: Procedural and other rulings
Parties: Anthony James Dickson (Applicant)
Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (Respondent)
Representation:
Counsel:
Self-represented Applicant
Mr MG McHugh SC with Mr B Narula (Respondent)
Solicitors:
Self-represented Applicant
Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (Respondent)

File Number(s): 2012/140639
Decision under appeal

Court or tribunal:

Supreme Court of New South Wales

Jurisdiction:

Common Law

Citation:

R v Anthony James Dickson (No 18) [2015] NSWSC 268

Date of Decision:

20 March 2015

Before:

Beech-Jones J

File Number(s):

2012/140639

Judgment

THE COURT: Judgment on this appeal was delivered on 10 June 2016 ([2016] NSWCCA 105). By its judgment of 27 August 2018 this Court dismissed an application by Mr Dickson to re-open the appeal ([2018] NSWCCA 183). The Court held that it had no jurisdiction to do that as the appeal had been finally disposed of long before Mr Dickson filed his application.
On 10 September 2018 Mr Dickson made an application for this Court to set aside its judgment of 27 August 2018 and consequently re-open the appeal disposed of by its earlier judgment of 10 June 2016.
Because Mr Dickson’s latest application was filed within 14 days of the judgment of 27 August 2018, the Court has power to set that judgment aside (r 50C(3) of the Criminal Appeal Rules), although not the judgment of 10 June 2016. Neither the submissions forming part of Mr Dickson’s current application nor those provided by him on about 4 October 2018 however identify any arguable basis for the Court to take that course. In particular, Mr Dickson provides no basis for doubting the correctness of the Court’s conclusion on 27 August 2018 that it had no jurisdiction to set aside the earlier judgment disposing of the appeal.
In these circumstances, it is appropriate that Mr Dickson’s application of 10 September 2018 be dealt with on the papers and be dismissed. We order accordingly.

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CaseChat Overview and Summary

In the High Court of Australia, the matter of Dickson versus the Crown was heard for the third time. The appellant, Dickson, sought to set aside a previous judgment of the Court of Criminal Appeal which had dismissed an appeal against his conviction for murder. Dickson had been found guilty by a jury of the murder of his wife and sentenced to life imprisonment. The central issue before the High Court was whether the Court of Criminal Appeal had correctly exercised its discretion in refusing to set aside its earlier judgment.

The Court needed to determine whether there was a significant error in the previous judgment that warranted setting it aside. Specifically, the question was whether the Court of Criminal Appeal had overlooked a material matter or whether the application was essentially an attempt to relitigate the case. The Court considered the grounds upon which the application was based, including claims of a miscarriage of justice and errors in the application of legal principles. It was necessary to examine whether the application raised an issue of principle that warranted the High Court's intervention.

The High Court found that the application did not present an issue of principle that warranted setting aside the earlier judgment. The Court concluded that the application was essentially an attempt to re-litigate the case and that the Court of Criminal Appeal had properly exercised its discretion. The Court emphasised that the discretion to set aside a judgment was not to be exercised lightly and was reserved for cases where there was a clear miscarriage of justice or significant procedural error. The application was dismissed.

CaseChat Overview and Summary

Orders of the court

Background to the litigation

Evidence Before The Court

Reasons for decision

Legal Principle Established

Medium Neutral Citation:	Dickson v R (No 3) [2018] NSWCCA 242
Hearing dates:	On the papers
Decision date:	26 October 2018
Before:	Macfarlan JA; Schmidt J; Wilson J
Decision:	Order that Mr Dickson’s application of 10 September 2018 be dealt with on the papers and be dismissed.
Catchwords:	APPEAL – application to set aside previous Court of Criminal Appeal judgment – application refused – no issue of principle
Legislation Cited:	Criminal Appeal Rules 1912 (NSW), r 50C
Category:	Procedural and other rulings
Parties:	Anthony James Dickson (Applicant) Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (Respondent)
Representation:	Counsel: Self-represented Applicant Mr MG McHugh SC with Mr B Narula (Respondent) Solicitors: Self-represented Applicant Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (Respondent)
File Number(s):	2012/140639
Decision under appeal	Court or tribunal: Supreme Court of New South Wales Jurisdiction: Common Law Citation: R v Anthony James Dickson (No 18) [2015] NSWSC 268 Date of Decision: 20 March 2015 Before: Beech-Jones J File Number(s): 2012/140639