Toth v Director of Public Prosecutions (NSW)

The applicant, Toth, sought judicial review of two interlocutory decisions made by the District Court of New South Wales. The first decision granted the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) leave to adduce fresh evidence, specifically tendency evidence, on an appeal from the Local Court concerning a conviction under s 91L of the *Crimes Act 1900* (NSW) for filming a person's private parts. The second decision refused the applicant's application to preclude the counsel appearing for the DPP from continuing to represent the DPP. The proceedings were heard in the Court of Appeal of New South Wales.

The central legal issues before the Court of Appeal were whether the primary judge erred in not submitting questions of law to the Court of Criminal Appeal pursuant to s 5B of the *Criminal Appeal Act 1919* (NSW), and whether the applicant was denied procedural fairness in relation to both District Court decisions. The court also considered whether the District Court decisions possessed the requisite quality of finality for judicial review and whether jurisdictional error had been established.

The Court of Appeal found no error in the primary judge's decision not to submit questions of law to the Court of Criminal Appeal. It reasoned that the District Court decisions lacked the necessary quality of finality, as they were interlocutory in nature and did not finally determine the rights of the parties. Consequently, the court held that no jurisdictional error had been established. Furthermore, the court dismissed the application on discretionary grounds, emphasizing the importance of preventing the fragmentation of criminal proceedings.

The amended summons was dismissed with costs.