30 Mar 2023
The judge found the defendant's culpability low (limited, early-stage involvement, no substantive steps, withdrawal), the consequences of conviction for his career and family moderately to highly serious, and that those consequences were out of proportion to the gravity of his offending; accordingly the discretion to discharge without conviction was exercised and no conviction was entered.
18 Jun 2021
Leave to bring a second appeal was declined because it is not seriously arguable the courts below erred: the offending was premeditated, repeated and moderately serious; liability to deportation for a residence class visa holder arises from the offending and the conviction triggers a statutory process but does not make deportation inevitable; immigration authorities must be allowed to consider personal circumstances and the high threshold for humanitarian relief, so no miscarriage of justice or matter of general/public importance requiring this Court's review was shown.
3 Sept 2019
The trial judge did not err: it is permissible to accept parts of a witness's evidence and reject others; independent corroborative evidence supported the finding of assault on 10 September; the judge gave adequate reasons; on sentencing the offending was moderately serious (two incidents, weapons, children present) and the appellant failed to demonstrate specific consequences of conviction that would be out of all proportion to the gravity of the offending, so a discharge without conviction was properly refused.
28 Aug 2019
The appellant's assault was of low-to-moderate gravity but the statutory and practical consequences of conviction, while moderately serious, were not out of all proportion to the gravity of the offending given the availability and historical success rate of exemptions under the Children's Act and the need to preserve the statutory protection scheme; therefore the court must decline to discharge and the appeal is dismissed.