R v Pratten (No 13)

The case of R v Pratten (No 13) arose in the Supreme Court of New South Wales. The appellant, Pratten, sought to disqualify the trial judge from presiding over his re-trial, following the overturning of his original conviction on appeal. Pratten argued that the trial judge might be biased due to the previous judgment in his case. This application was dismissed by the Court.

The primary legal issue for the Court was whether the trial judge should be disqualified due to an apprehended bias arising from the pre-judgment in the previous sentencing hearing. The Court needed to determine whether the allegations of bias were sufficient to warrant disqualifying the judge from presiding over the re-trial. The Court had to weigh the principles of judicial impartiality against the appellant's claim of bias.

In dismissing the application, the Court held that the mere allegation of a previous error in judgment was insufficient to establish bias. The Court emphasised that the trial judge was presumed to be impartial and that there must be a real likelihood of bias for a judge to be disqualified. The Court found that Pratten's arguments did not meet this threshold. Consequently, the trial judge was not disqualified, and the matter was to proceed with the original trial judge presiding over the re-trial.

The Court's decision underscores the high threshold for disqualifying a judge on the grounds of apprehended bias. It reaffirms that mere allegations of judicial error do not constitute bias unless there is a real likelihood of partiality. The final orders of the Court were that the application for disqualification was dismissed, and the matter was to proceed with the original trial judge presiding over the re-trial.