Ghasemi v District Court of New South Wales

The applicant, Mr Ghasemi, sought a temporary stay of sentence proceedings in the District Court of New South Wales. He also sought expedition of judicial review proceedings concerning the sentencing judge's refusal to recuse himself.

The primary legal issues before the court were whether there was a proper basis to grant a temporary stay of sentence proceedings, given that judicial review proceedings were pending in the Court of Appeal and the applicant proposed to appeal his conviction, and whether there was an arguable basis for a reasonable apprehension of bias or prejudice arising from the sentencing judge's refusal to recuse himself.

Justice Hulme found that the applicant's prospects of success in the judicial review proceedings were poor and that no proper basis had been established for the grant of a stay of sentence. The court noted that it was unusual for a conviction appeal to be heard prior to sentence and that the sentence had already been deferred for over a year. Furthermore, the court determined that there was no arguable basis for a reasonable apprehension of bias or prejudice. Consequently, all applications were refused.