Lewis v The State of Western Australia [No 2]

The case of Lewis v The State of Western Australia [No 2] involved the appellant, Lewis, contesting a decision made by the Supreme Court of Western Australia regarding the amendment of an indictment just one business day before the scheduled trial. The amended charge was for assault occasioning grievous bodily harm instead of the original charge of assault occasioning bodily harm. This change made the amended charge significantly more severe. Lewis contended that the refusal of the trial judge to grant an adjournment in light of this amendment constituted a denial of procedural fairness and resulted in a miscarriage of justice.

The legal issues before the court included whether the trial judge's refusal to adjourn the trial following the amendment of the indictment was a breach of procedural fairness and whether such a breach had indeed led to a miscarriage of justice. Furthermore, the court needed to determine the appropriate remedy for any identified procedural errors.

The court found that the trial judge's refusal to grant an adjournment was indeed a breach of procedural fairness. The court held that the amendment of the indictment to a more serious charge so close to the trial date provided insufficient time for the accused to adequately prepare a defence. This decision was deemed to have caused a miscarriage of justice. Consequently, the court allowed the application to review, granted the leave to appeal, and allowed the appeal. The conviction on count 2 was quashed, and a re-trial on count 2 was ordered. The court also granted the application to rely upon additional evidence dated 27 March 2008, while dismissing the application dated 23 June 2008.