Robert Frank Terry v Department of Corrections

The Supreme Court of New Zealand heard an application for leave to appeal from Robert Frank Terry against the Department of Corrections. Terry sought to appeal directly to the Supreme Court from a decision of the High Court, which dismissed his appeal against a conviction for failing to report for community work. The High Court found that Terry's appeal was without merit and dismissed it.

The central legal issue before the Supreme Court was whether Terry's application for leave to appeal should be granted. The Court needed to determine if there were exceptional circumstances that warranted the appeal, given that Terry had failed to file any submissions in support of his application. The Court also had to consider whether the appeal had any prospect of success, particularly given the nature of the underlying conviction and the findings of the High Court.

The Supreme Court found that Terry had not filed any submissions in support of his application, which was a necessary part of the process. The Court noted that the High Court judgment, which dismissed Terry's appeal, showed that there was no basis for a successful appeal. The Court held that the appeal was purely one of fact, and there was no evidence that the appeal would succeed. The Court concluded that the criteria for leave to appeal were not met, and therefore, the application for leave to appeal was dismissed.

The Supreme Court's final order was that the application for leave to appeal was dismissed. The Court found that there were no exceptional circumstances warranting an appeal and that the appeal was unlikely to succeed.