MR v Webb

[2000] QCA 206

[2000] QCA 206

COURT OF APPEAL

McMURDO P
WHITE J
DUTNEY J

Appeal No 4166 of 2000
DC No 1109 of 2000

MR  Applicant (Applicant)

v

ERIC MALCOLM WEBB  Respondent (Respondent)

BRISBANE

DATE 30/05/2000

JUDGMENT

THE PRESIDENT:  This is an application for leave to appeal against a judgment of the District Court on 14 April 2000 ordering the respondent to pay the applicant $15,000 for injuries suffered by her as a result of the respondent's conviction for indecent treatment of the applicant.

The applicant requires leave to appeal under section 118 of the District Court Act 1967. The applicant seeks to appeal on three grounds, one of which relates to the failure of the learned primary Judge to properly consider all the matters set out in regulation 1A of the CriminalOffence Victims Act 1995, relevant by way of section 20 of that Act.

There seems to be some merit in that submission.  The Act is not an altogether easy one to follow and it may indeed be useful to have a pronouncement from this Court on the relevant interpretation of it.  These reasons, in my view, justify the granting of the application for leave to appeal.

A further problem arises in that the respondent has not been served.  The information placed before the Court by way of affidavit is that the applicant is somewhat itinerant in that he regularly moves from the residence with one daughter to that of another.  There is a suggestion that perhaps he, possibly with the assistance of his daughters, has been avoiding service.  In any case it is clear from the material that there is a real likelihood that if substituted service is ordered upon his daughters his attention will be drawn to the appeal.

In the circumstances the appropriate order is in terms of the draft provided by the applicant today.

WHITE J: I agree with the President that this is a matter in which leave to appeal ought to be granted pursuant to section 118 of the District Court Act, and I agree with the order proposed by Mr Rafter that there be substituted service in the way indicated by the President.

DUTNEY J:  I agree with the orders proposed and with the reasons for making those orders.

THE PRESIDENT:  The order is as per the initialled draft.

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