Shapkin v Director of Public Prosecutions (No 2)

The applicant, Shapkin, sought judicial review of a decision by a District Court judge to refuse to submit questions of law to the Court of Criminal Appeal under s 5B of the *Criminal Appeal Act 1912* (NSW). The underlying matter concerned convictions and a sentence imposed on Shapkin, which had been confirmed on appeal from the Local Court to the District Court, and the sentence had since been served. The Director of Public Prosecutions was the first respondent.

The central legal issues before the Court of Appeal were whether the District Court judge had committed jurisdictional error by considering irrelevant matters when refusing to submit the questions of law, and whether the identified questions of law genuinely arose on the appeal from the Local Court. Additionally, the court considered whether the convictions could be stayed, given that the sentence had already been served.

The Court of Appeal found that the District Court judge had not erred in law or fact in refusing to submit the questions of law to the Court of Criminal Appeal. The judge had correctly identified that the questions posed by the applicant did not arise on the appeal before him. Consequently, the court dismissed Shapkin's summons for judicial review and ordered that he pay the first respondent's costs.