Dickey v The Queen - [2021] NZCA 600

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF NEW ZEALAND

I TE KŌTI PĪRA O AOTEAROA

CA393/2018
[2021] NZCA 600

BETWEEN	GEORGIA ROSE DICKEY Appellant
AND	THE QUEEN Respondent

Court:	Gilbert and Collins JJ
Counsel:	D J More for Appellant C A Brook and H S Cunningham for Respondent
Judgment: (On the papers)	15 November 2021 at 10.30 am

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

AThe application for leave to withdraw the notice of abandonment of appeal is granted.
BMs Dickey’s appeal against sentence is reinstated and shall be heard in conjunction with Mr Brown’s appeal on 15–16 March 2022.

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REASONS OF THE COURT

(Given by Collins J)

Introduction

Georgia Dickey, who is now 20 years of age, pleaded guilty in March 2018 to having been a party to the murder of Jack McAllister in Invercargill on 7 June 2017. At the time of the murder Ms Dickey was 16 years old. Ms Dickey was one of three young people convicted of murdering Mr McAllister. She was sentenced to life imprisonment by Dunningham J with a minimum period of imprisonment of 10 years.[1]
[1]R v Dickey [2018] NZHC 1403.
On 11 July 2018, Ms Dickey filed a notice of appeal against sentence. Mr Brown, one of Ms Dickey’s co-defendants, appealed against his conviction and sentence. His conviction appeal was separated from his sentence appeal and has been heard and dismissed.[2]
[2]Brown v R [2021] NZCA 120.
Because Ms Dickey and Mr Brown’s appeals against sentence raised important issues about imposing sentences of life imprisonment on young persons, the sentence appeal was to be considered by a Permanent Court. The Children’s Commissioner was granted leave to intervene.
In September 2020, Ms Dickey abandoned her appeal. Mr Brown’s appeal against sentence remains on course and will be considered by a Permanent Court on 15–16 March 2022.
Although she was represented by counsel Ms Dickey filed her notice of abandonment of appeal without telling her lawyer. The Crown and Ms Dickey’s counsel were concerned Ms Dickey may not have fully understood what she was doing. The Court shared those concerns and appointed an independent lawyer to speak to Ms Dickey. That lawyer reported that Ms Dickey insisted that she wished to abandon her appeal.
Ms Dickey’s lawyer has now filed on her behalf an application for leave to withdraw her notice abandoning her appeal against sentence. Ms Dickey has sworn a supporting affidavit saying she is “still kind of confused about [her] situation”. It is clear she blames herself for the death of Mr McAllister and for Mr Brown’s involvement in the homicide.

Legal principles

In R v Cramp,[3] this Court identified two grounds upon which leave might be granted to withdraw a notice of abandonment of appeal:[4]
(a)if the notice of abandonment of appeal was null and void because it was not the result of a deliberate and informed decision; or
(b)if, in exceptional circumstances, the interests of justice require a court to, in effect, set aside a notice of…

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 Dickey v The Queen

Details

AGLC: Dickey v The Queen [2021] NZCA 600
Case: [2021] NZCA 600
Decision Date: 15 November 2021 at 10.30 am

CaseChat Overview and Summary

Dickey appealed against her life sentence for her involvement in the murder of Jack McAllister. The Court of Appeal had earlier heard and dismissed the appeal of one of her co-defendants, Brown, against his conviction. The Court granted Dickey leave to withdraw her notice of abandonment of her appeal against sentence. The court found that the interests of justice required the withdrawal of the notice of abandonment. The court found that the issues raised by her proposed appeal were important and the merits of her proposed appeal ought to be properly considered, particularly given the fact that she is a young person currently serving a sentence of life imprisonment. The appeal against sentence will be heard in conjunction with Brown's appeal on 15–16 March 2022.

Orders