Wotton v Director of Public Prosecutions

The applicant, Lex Patrick Wotton, sought bail pending his sentencing for an offence of unlawfully destroying property while riotously assembled. The respondent, Director of Public Prosecutions, opposed the bail application. The applicant argued that the District Court judge had not properly considered the criteria for refusing bail and that his Honour's decision was inadequate and represented a jurisdictional error.

The legal issues before the court were whether the Supreme Court had jurisdiction to hear the bail application and whether the District Court judge had erred in refusing bail. The applicant argued that the decision in R. v. Wren did not prevent the Supreme Court from hearing the application if there was a jurisdictional error by the District Court judge. The Crown argued that section 10(3) of the Bail Act precluded any consideration of jurisdictional error by the District Court judge.

The court held that section 10(3) prevented the Supreme Court from considering whether there had been jurisdictional error by the District Court judge. The court found that the District Court judge's decision to refuse bail was reasonable, given the nature and seriousness of the offence and the risk of flight and further offending. The court dismissed the application.

In summary, the Supreme Court held that it did not have jurisdiction to hear the bail application if the District Court judge's decision was not tainted by jurisdictional error. The court found that the District Court judge's decision was reasonable and dismissed the application.