Gabriel Werden v The Queen

GABRIEL WERDEN
v
THE QUEEN
[2015] HCASL 137
M58/2015

The applicant seeks special leave to appeal against orders of the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Victoria (Ashley, Osborn and Priest JJA) dismissing the applicant's application for leave to appeal against conviction of nine charges of obtaining financial advantage by deception and 14 charges of attempting to obtain financial advantage by deception.
As the applicant does not have legal representation, the application falls to be dealt with under r 41.10 of the High Court Rules 2004.
The applicant has not advanced any reason to doubt the correctness of the conclusions reached by the Court of Appeal. Nor would any point of general principle fall for consideration if special leave to appeal to this Court were granted. For the reasons given by the Court of Appeal, the Crown case against the applicant was overwhelming and for that reason the applicant has not demonstrated that it would be in the interests of justice either generally or in this particular case that special leave to appeal be granted.
Pursuant to r 41.10.5 we direct the Registrar to draw up, sign and seal an order dismissing the application.

G.A.A. Nettle
3 September 2015 M.M. Gordon

CaseChat Overview and Summary

Gabriel Werden, the applicant, sought special leave to appeal against the dismissal of his application for leave to appeal against his conviction on nine counts of obtaining financial advantage by deception and 14 counts of attempting to obtain financial advantage by deception. The Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Victoria dismissed the applicant's appeal. The case now comes before the High Court to consider whether special leave to appeal should be granted.

The legal issue before the court was whether special leave to appeal should be granted to the applicant, who was unrepresented, against the Court of Appeal's dismissal of his appeal. The applicant argued that special leave should be granted as it was in the interests of justice to do so, either generally or in the particular case. The court had to determine whether the applicant had provided sufficient grounds to doubt the correctness of the Court of Appeal's conclusions or whether any point of general principle would fall for consideration if special leave were granted.

The court found that the applicant had not provided any reason to doubt the correctness of the conclusions reached by the Court of Appeal. The court also found that no point of general principle would fall for consideration if special leave to appeal were granted. The Crown case against the applicant was overwhelming, and the applicant had not demonstrated that it would be in the interests of justice either generally or in the particular case that special leave to appeal be granted. Accordingly, the court dismissed the application for special leave to appeal.

The court directed the Registrar to draw up, sign and seal an order dismissing the application. The order was signed by G.A.A. Nettle and M.M. Gordon on 3 September 2015.

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