source : the age
A District Court judge embroiled in an ongoing dispute with the state’s top prosecutor has been ordered to step aside from hearing a series of criminal cases.
In a decision on Friday, the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal overturned a decision by District Court Judge Penelope Wass refusing to recuse herself from three criminal proceedings.
The court upheld the appeal by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) and ordered that the cases be heard by a judge other than Wass.
The decision is the latest development in a long-running dispute between Wass and the state’s top prosecutor, Sally Dowling, SC.
Justices Mark Leeming, Kristina Stern and John Griffiths said in their decision that the judge was “wrong … in declining to disqualify herself in each of the three proceedings”. This was not a “finely balanced case”, they said.
The cases “should continue in the District Court constituted by another judge”, the appeal court said.
The ODPP had asked Wass to recuse herself from hearing the cases on the grounds of apprehended bias after she made a submission about Dowling and her office to a controversial NSW upper house inquiry. Apprehended bias does not involve an allegation of actual bias, but of the appearance of it.
The appeal court said Wass “has a long-standing grievance, or series of grievances, against the [DPP]” and her submission “restates earlier complaints made by her to the NSW Bar Association and to the NSW Police”.
“It is no part of these appeals to determine whether any or all of those complaints are made out,” the court said.
“Nor is it any part of these appeals to determine whether the Judge had or has a proper basis for making those complaints or whether the grievances are well-founded.”
In a controversial report, released last month, a 4-3 majority of MPs conducting the inquiry made damaging findings that Dowling authorised her office to give a negative story about Wass to Sydney radio station 2GB in 2024 and falsely denied doing so in her evidence in parliament. Dowling has strenuously denied wrongdoing.
Three MPs dissented in strong terms from the majority’s findings and recommendations.
The 2GB story related to Wass’ invitation to a young Indigenous offender to deliver what the judge called a “Welcome to Country” before he was sentenced for a serious crime.
