Dickson v The Queen Dickson v The Queen

The applicant, Dickson, was convicted of conspiracy to dishonestly cause a loss to the Commonwealth and conspiracy to deal with property believed to be the proceeds of crime. The Court of Criminal Appeal of the Supreme Court of New South Wales dismissed the applicant's appeal against conviction and allowed a Crown appeal against sentence. The applicant applied for special leave to appeal to the High Court, which was refused. The applicant subsequently applied to the Court of Criminal Appeal to re-open the appeal, relying on fresh grounds and submitting that the Court had failed to determine "amended ground 7" of his appeal. This application was dismissed, as was an application to set aside or vary the orders of that dismissal. The applicant now applies for special leave to appeal against the decisions of the Court of Criminal Appeal of 27 August 2018 and 26 October 2018.

The legal issues before the Court were whether the Court of Criminal Appeal failed to exercise its jurisdiction by failing to determine "amended ground 7", whether the applicant should be granted an extension of time within which to file each application for special leave to appeal, and whether special leave to appeal should be granted. The Court held that the applicant had not identified a question of principle of general importance sufficient to warrant a grant of special leave to appeal and otherwise advances no arguable ground of appeal against the decisions of the Court of Criminal Appeal. The Court of Criminal Appeal applied settled and established authority to the particular facts, and it is not otherwise in the interests of justice to grant special leave to appeal. The applicant's senior counsel had accepted at the 2016 hearing of the applicant's appeal that the arguments concerning amended ground 7 were encompassed by another ground, which was addressed by the Court of Criminal Appeal.

The Court dismissed the applications for special leave to appeal. It was held that neither appeal to this Court would enjoy any prospect of success. It would therefore be futile to grant the extensions that are sought. Special leave should be refused. Pursuant to r 41.08.1 of the High Court Rules 2004 (Cth), the Registrar was directed to draw up, sign and seal orders dismissing each application.