R (Cth) v Petroulias
[2007] NSWSC 535
At a glance
Source factsCourt
Supreme Court of NSW
Decision date
2007-03-16
Before
Johnson J, Mr P
Catchwords
- CRIMINAL LAW - application to further adjourn commencement of criminal trial - further adjournment sought for accused to secure funds for private legal representation - adjournment refused
Source
Original judgment source is linked above.
Catchwords
Judgment (41 paragraphs)
The Application on 2 March 2007 2 On 2 March 2007, on the application of the Accused, I adjourned the trial from 5 March 2007 until next Monday, 19 March 2007. The circumstances underlying that application, and my reasons for granting the adjournment application, appear in my judgment, R v Petroulias (No 11). 3 Put shortly, the Accused based the application upon the fact that monies were required to fund his defence and that it was expected that those funds would become available at a point of time in the near future. As part of the application, it was contended for the Accused that he had sought to make appropriate arrangements with respect to the funding of his defence, but that due to what was said to be a mistaken transfer of monies, the sum involved had ended up in the trust account of a firm of solicitors in Brisbane, Home Wilkinson Lowry, and that there was controversy as to whether those monies would be repaid by that firm. 4 The adjournment application made then, and made again today, is not brought in accordance with the principles in Dietrich v The Queen (1992) 177 CLR 292 at 315. The Accused is not asserting that he is indigent and that, through no fault of his own, he is unable to obtain or maintain legal representation for his trial. Rather, as I observed in paragraph 5 of R v Petroulias (No. 11), the application is based upon the proposition that an adjournment of the trial ought be allowed to permit steps to be taken to ensure that monies are available to fund his defence. Section 40 Criminal Procedure Act 1986 provides the broad statutory foundation for the discretionary power of the Court to adjourn a criminal trial. 5 The application on 2 March 2007 was allowed so that the Accused could facilitate an urgent application to be made to the Supreme Court of Queensland with respect to a sum of $785,000.00 said to have been paid by mistake into the account of Home Wilkinson Lowry.