R v Wotton - [2007] QDC 181

DISTRICT COURT OF QUEENSLAND

CITATION:

R v Wotton [2007] QDC 181

PARTIES:

THE QUEEN

V

LEX PATRICK WOTTON

FILE NO/S:

2087/07

DIVISION:

Criminal

PROCEEDING:

Application to withdraw plea of guilty

ORIGINATING COURT:

District Court, Brisbane

DELIVERED ON:

25 May 2007

DELIVERED AT:

Brisbane

HEARING DATE:

23 April 2007

JUDGE:

Nase DCJ

ORDER:

CATCHWORDS:

COUNSEL:

Mr M. Einfeld Q.C., with him Mr King for the applicant

Mr B. Campbell, with him Mr Cowen for the Crown

SOLICITORS:

Levitt Robinson Solicitors for the applicant

Director of Public Prosecutions for the Crown

On 19 November 2004, Cameron Doomadgee died in the cells of the small Palm Island police station from traumatic injuries sustained after he had been taken into police custody.

The police officer in charge of the police station has since been indicted with his manslaughter but not as a result of the normal processes of police investigation and arrest. Instead, the charge was laid after an independent review of the coronial evidence and by a prosecutor appointed from outside the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (as the Director of Public Prosecutions declined to prosecute).

These events took place in a small aboriginal community on Palm Island. In order to understand the issues the court is asked to determine, it is useful to have some understanding of the community on Palm Island. The community appears typical of many of the remote aboriginal communities the court visits in Queensland. Those who live on Palm experience a different reality from that experienced in mainstream Australia: inadequate housing (one house for every 17 persons), poor levels of public health (a life expectancy which may be 17 years shorter than the general population), little or no real employment, high levels of alcoholism associated with family disintegration and violence, and an unequal engagement with the administration of justice.[1] And it is above all else, like some other remote aboriginal communities, a place of funerals.
[1]In Queensland, aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples make up 3.5% of the population, but constitute nearly 25% of the adult state prison population and 55% of children in detention.

The initial police investigation was, if the Acting Coroner is correct,[2] likely to have been seen as compromised by the relationships between the investigating police officers and the police officer under investigation.
[2]The Coronial inquiry was placed before me during argument. The acting Coroner’s formal comments on the investigation are set out in comments 27 to 35 in her report.

In the period leading up to the riot, public meetings were held on the island. At one of the meetings (on 26 November 2004), the chairperson of the council informed a meeting of 200 to 300 persons that a pathology report made available by the Coroner suggested the cause of death was an accident.

A large number of those assembled moved to the police station with a demand the police leave the island. The police were forced to retreat from the police station to the adjoining police barracks. The police station…

Grounds of appeal

[14] The appellant contends that the primary judge erred in finding that the respondent had discharged the onus of establishing the matters required under the relevant provision.

[15] It was submitted that his Honour failed to give adequate weight to the evidence of the second witness, and that the findings of fact were not reasonably open on the material before the Court.

[16] The respondent, for its part, submits that no error is disclosed, and that the conclusions reached were well within the range of outcomes available to the primary judge.

Consideration

[17] It is convenient to deal first with the question of construction, as the resolution of that issue informs the remaining grounds advanced by the appellant.

[18] For the reasons that follow, we are of the view that the appeal should be allowed in part and the matter remitted for further determination.

Continue reading R v Wotton

Details

AGLC: R v Wotton [2007] QDC 181
Case: [2007] QDC 181
Decision Date: 25 May 2007

CaseChat Overview and Summary

The case of R v Wotton, delivered on 25 May 2007, involved the defendant, Lex Patrick Wotton, seeking leave to withdraw a plea of guilty entered in the District Court of Queensland. The plea of guilty was entered in relation to Wotton's involvement in a riot on Palm Island, which was a consequence of the death of Cameron Doomadgee while in police custody. The legal issues before the court included whether the plea of guilty was influenced by inducement, whether Wotton had a genuine consciousness of guilt, and whether there were procedural errors in the manner the plea was entered.

The court found that Wotton's plea of guilty was not influenced by inducement or a lack of real agreement to the facts. The disparity in sentences proposed by the prosecutor was received through legal advice, and Wotton had given serious consideration to the plea. The court also noted that Wotton's belief in the moral justification of his actions did not negate his legal responsibility. However, the court concluded that the plea of guilty could not stand because it was entered when the court was closed to the public, in breach of the mandatory requirement for open court proceedings. This procedural error was considered fundamental, and Wotton was granted leave to withdraw his plea of guilty.

The final orders of the court were to allow Wotton to withdraw the plea of guilty he entered on 5 March 2007. This decision was based on the serious departure from the essential requirements of the law due to the closed court proceedings, which could not be justified by any concerns about potential prejudice to the other accused.

Orders