DKG v Commissioner of Police

The applicant, DKG, sought to appeal against a conviction in the Local Court. The Commissioner of Police was the respondent. The dispute concerned DKG's application for an extension of time to file an appeal against his conviction, and the substantive merits of that proposed appeal. The matter came before the Court of Appeal of New South Wales.

The Court of Appeal was required to determine whether to grant DKG an extension of time to file his appeal. Central to this was the question of whether DKG had an arguable case for relief, given that his claim had been summarily dismissed in the Local Court. The Court also considered the limitations on arguing points on appeal that were not raised in the court below, specifically whether DKG could challenge his conviction on grounds of consent and no act of indecency when the defence in the Local Court had focused solely on the absence of sexual touching.

Ward P and Adamson JA reasoned that the applicant had not demonstrated an arguable error in the summary dismissal of his claim in the Local Court. They noted that the grounds of appeal sought to be raised, concerning consent and the nature of the act, were not issues that had been pursued in the Local Court, where the defence was confined to a denial of any touching. Consequently, the Court found no basis to grant leave to appeal.

The Court ordered that time for filing the summons seeking leave to appeal be extended to 27 June 2022. However, leave to appeal was refused. The respondent was granted leave to apply for an order for the costs of the application within seven days.