The Queen v Dellabarca

[2006] NZCA 177

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In the COURT OF APPEAL of New Zealand

CA130/06

THE QUEEN

v

GREGORY JOHN DELLABARCA

Court:Chambers, Robertson and Ellen France JJ

Counsel:Applicant in person
AM Powell for Crown

Judgment (On the papers):26 July 2006

JUDGMENT OF THE COURTThe application for special leave to appeal out of time is dismissed.

REASONS OF THE COURT

(Given by Chambers J)

Back in 1997, Gregory Dellabarca and his neighbour were embroiled in an ongoing dispute as to the boundaries of their respective properties.On 27 February 1997, the dispute boiled over and Mr Dellabarca struck his neighbour on the arm.

The police charged Mr Dellabarca with assault.He defended the prosecution on the grounds of acting in defence of another, namely his wife.Judge Ongley heard the prosecution.He held that there was no basis for the claim of defence of another.He entered a conviction.The judge fined Mr Dellabarca $500 and ordered him to pay court costs of $95.

Mr Dellabarca appealed.Goddard J dismissed the appeal: HC WN AP354/97 4 December 1997.

On 5 January 2004, Mr Dellabarca purported to file in the High Court at Wellington a second appeal against Judge Ongley?s decision.He could not, of course, file a second appeal.When the matter came before Miller J on 25 May 2004, he treated the purported appeal as an application for leave to appeal to the Court of Appeal under s 144(2) of the Summary Proceedings Act 1957.In so treating the document which had been filed, Miller J did Mr Dellabarca a favour: he could have dismissed it out of hand on the grounds that Mr Dellabarca could not appeal twice to the High Court from the same summary conviction.Miller J considered the matter in terms of the criteria in s 144(2).He concluded that Mr Dellabarca had not established that there was any question of law involved in the proposed appeal, let alone a question of law which, by reason of its general or public importance or for any other reason, ought to be submitted to this court for decision.Miller J also noted the extreme delay in bringing the application: Dellabarca v New Zealand Police HC WN CRI 1997-032-537790 25 May 2004.

Mr Dellabarca took no further steps until April this year.At that time, he sought from this court special leave to appeal under s 144(3) of the Summary Proceedings Act.The application has been heard on the papers with the parties? consent.

The first point to note is that, before Mr Dellabarca can bring this application, he needs leave to extend time.That is because he should have brought his application within 21 days after Miller J refused leave (i.e. within 21 days of 25?May 2004): see s 144(3).The application is well out of time.Mr Dellabarca has made no attempt to explain the delay.We have in this case, therefore, not only the considerable delay between Miller J?s decision and Mr Dellabarca?s application to this court but also the extraordinary delay between Goddard J?s 1997 decision ? the decision sought to be appealed from ? and today.None of this delay is explained.In those circumstances, we could not possibly countenance extending time to allow a late application.

We should add, however, that, even if the application had been in time, we would have refused special leave, for the reasons Miller J gave.The points which Mr Dellabarca seeks to argue ? the way Judge Ongley dealt with issues of credibility, ownership of the land, sentence, and related questions ? do not raise questions of law of such general or public importance as to justify a second appeal.

Solicitors:

Applicant in Person

Crown Law Office, Wellington

PAGE1

PAGE2

R V DELLABARCA CA CA130/06 26 July 2006

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