De Mey v The Queen

In the Supreme Court of New Zealand, Ramon Dirk Johannes De Mey brought an application for leave to appeal against the dismissal of his appeal against a conviction for common assault. The case was presided over by Justices Blanchard and Tipping. De Mey represented himself in the case, while the Crown was represented by A M Powell. The court's decision was rendered on 29 June 2005.

The primary legal issue the court had to decide was whether the application for leave to appeal met the criteria outlined in section 13 of the Supreme Court Act 2003. The application, which was filed beyond the statutory time limit, pertained to the findings of fact made by the jury. The court was tasked with determining whether the appeal raised a question of general or public importance, or if there was an indication of a substantial miscarriage of justice.

The court found that the proposed appeal did not satisfy the criteria in section 13 of the Supreme Court Act 2003. It was entirely focused on the factual findings made by the jury and did not raise a question of general or public importance. Moreover, the Court of Appeal had already reviewed the evidence concerning the degree of force used by the applicant and had determined that the jury could properly find that the applicant was not acting in self-defense. Consequently, the application for leave to appeal was dismissed.